IOA, CWG OC under RTI ambit

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and Organising Committee (OC) of Commonwealth Games-2010 will now have to respond to RTI queries.

The sports ministry on Tuesday asked both the organizations to fulfil various obligations of the Right to Information (RTI) Act and to designate their Central Public Information Officers and appellate authorities as per section 5 of the RTI Act.

The Suresh Kalmadi headed OC and IOA were reluctant to provide information under RTI arguing that both the sports bodies are not public authorities.

"The ministry has sent a communication to IOA and OC in pursuance of the Delhi High Court's order dated January 7, 2010, declaring both entities as public authorities under the RTI Act, 2005," an official release said.

"Both organisations have also been asked to fulfil various obligations of being a public authority, as per section 4 of the RTI Act, including maintaining all their records duly catalogued and indexed in a manner so as to facilitate the right to information under this Act and suo moto disclosure/publishing of information pertaining to IOA/OC, CWG-2010," the sports ministry statement said.

Indian parents bring children to work... to work

AT an age when most children are either at home playing or starting out in school, these youngsters in India are putting in a day's work on a building site.

Struggling to hold up shovels which are as tall as they are, the children are helping to build drainage works in front of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi in time for the Commonwealth Games which will take place in October.

They shovel stones into baskets which are then carried away by other children as their parents work nearby on the same construction project.

Parents who bring their children to work on the site have been promised extra bonuses, such as money for bread and milk for their children, on top of their pay. Children and parents also receive an additional meal.

The Games are due to be held in the Indian capital from October 3 to 14, but concerns remain about the construction of sporting and transport infrastructure.

The sheer scale of the project has drawn an enormous population of migrant workers from all over India.

And now it seems children have also been drafted to get the stadium and its surrounding area finished on time.

This week, the High Court of Delhi has sought a response from the Government over the alleged failure to provide all the benefits of labour laws to workers involved in construction work for the Commonwealth Games.

The Commonwealth Games Federation has repeatedly expressed concern about the slow pace of work for the Games, which will involve 6000 athletes from the Commonwealth, including Australia, competing in 17 sports.

Federation president Mike Fennell said in December he was distressed by a report by the CGF evaluation commission that two major venues would not be ready until June, barely three months before the opening ceremony.

The commission said work on the Nehru Stadium, where the opening and closing ceremonies and the athletics program will be held, and the swimming complex was way behind schedule.

Gill, Kalmadi present a united front

Sports Minister M.S. Gill and Commonwealth Games Organising Committee (CGOC) chairman Suresh Kalmadi Tuesday insisted that there are no differences between them and both are striving their best to make the 2010 Games the best.

Both Gill and Kalmadi were present at the meeting of the Group of Ministers’ (GOM) overseeing the work of the Commonwealth Games.

When their attention was drawn to the functions related to the inauguration of some of the Games venues where both were not seen together, Gill and Kalmadi said there were absolutely “no differences” and they were working together.

“We are working to achieve the same goal of hosting the best Commonwealth Games,” said Gill. Kalmadi nodded in agreement.

Gill also said the Commonwealth Shooting Championship will take place as scheduled from Feb 17.

The Delhi High Court Monday refused to stay a lower court order which last month held that the election of National Rifle Association of India’s top office bearers was invalid on the grounds that they had flouted norms by contesting for the posts after completing two consecutive terms.

Following the development, the sports ministry was contemplating to write to Indian Olympic Association to form an ad-hoc committee for shooting to organise the championship, a test event for the October Games.

“The officials are looking at every possibility. Whatever we have to do, we will do to see that the shooting Commowealth Championship takes place,” Gill said.

Rs 21.95 cr to beautify roads around Commonwealth Games venues.

The expenditure and finance committee of Delhi government has cleared a Rs 21.95 crore proposal for beautification of roads around Commonwealth Games venues.

Besides Games venues, under the proposal, space under flyovers, road crossings and footpaths will be beautified by planting saplings.

Delhi finance minister A. K. Walia said that the streetscaping work on Jagannath Marg would cost Rs 3.40 crore while on Lodi Road it would cost Rs 18.55 crore.

Walia exhorted the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to accomplish the work with speed, accuracy and quality by April 2010.

“The design of beautification has been given to the agencies concerned. The work includes upgradation of ambience and facilities around Thyagraj Stadium, Nehru Stadium, Siri Fort Sports Complex, R.K. Khanna Lawn Tennis Stadium, Dr. Karni Singh Stadium, Yamuna Sports Complex and important sections of Ring Road,” Walia added.

Apart from the beautification project, the government has been underlining the need of uniform signages and maximum possible green cover in the city.