Queen's Baton's date with Mysore

The Queen's Baton relay, which is similar to the Olympic Torch relay, is held around the world prior to the beginning of the Commonwealth Games.

The Queen's Baton will arrive in Mysore on September 1 from Ooty, as part of its Karnataka leg.

A grand tradition associated with the prestigious event, the baton relay which commenced from Buckingham Palace in October 2009, will traverse the State till September 7 before proceeding to Goa. Queen Elizabeth II formally inaugurated the relay by reading out a message which will be carried to 70 Commonwealth nations before the relay's arrival in New Delhi for the Commonwealth Games to be held on October 3 this year. The Queen's message will be read aloud at the games.

In the process, the baton would have traversed over 1.7 lakh km over eight months, and is expected to cover about 20,000 km after entering India. It is reckoned that nearly 5,000 relay runners will be involved in carrying the baton in India.

The relay from Mysore will leave for Bangalore on September 2, proceed to Hassan on September 4 and will touch Mangalore and Bhatkal before entering Panaji.

At a meeting in the city on Wednesday, Deputy Commissioner P. Manivannan said the district administration would make all arrangements to ensure a grand welcome to the Queen's Baton relay and ensure adequate security for the runners. It was also decided to constitute a committee in this regard. The relay is a tradition that began with the 1958 Commonwealth Games in Cardiff.

Games official sacked by Kalmadi is reinstated

The government has reinstated Sanjiv Mittal, a financial expert who was ousted from the Commonwealth Games (CWG) organizing committee by its chairman Suresh Kalmadi almost a fortnight back in what was perceived at the time as a snub to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

The defence ministry issued an order dated 2 March asking the CWG organizing committee to allow Mittal to stay on.

“As per direction of the cabinet secretariat, Mittal should continue in the department on the post for which he was selected,” according to the order, said an official familiar with the development, who did not want to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.

he order also says Mittal should remain in the post till the conclusion of the 3-14 October Games. He told Mint he resumed work at the organizing committee on Wednesday after receiving the order.

Attempts to reach Kalmadi on his cellphone failed.

A Congress member of Parliament, Kalmadi had on 19 February terminated the services of Mittal, who had been appointed by the PMO to oversee preparations for the Games. Mint had reported on 23 February that Mittal’s services had been terminated after he declined to approve certain financial transactions.

Mittal, a 1984 Indian Defence Accounts Service official, was expected to head the finance department in the organizing committee. He, along with two other officers, was appointed by the cabinet secretariat in November to help ensure the Games are held on schedule.

The appointments were made after the Prime Minister decided to get involved in the process of preparing the Capital for the Games, seeking to avert potential embarrassment in case of shoddy preparations for India’s biggest sporting event in around 30 years.

Dug up city: Clear the mess by June, civic bodies told

With dug up roads and pavements becoming a common sight in the capital and causing problems for residents, the Union Urban Development (UD) Ministry has rapped civic agencies for the tardiness.

The UD Ministry has expressed concern over civic bodies carrying out rampant road-digging work, just seven months ahead of the the Commonwealth Games (to be held in October), and directed the agencies to speed up all ongoing digging and construction activity.

At a recent meeting, held to review the progress of various infrastructure projects related to Commonwealth Games, UD secretary M. Ramachandran attributed the problem to multiple agencies taking up street-scaping projects simultaneously.

This, Ramachandran said, has resulted in major disruption of traffic and inconvenienced the general people, especially pedestrians.

“The UD secretary has asked the Delhi government to ensure various digging work taken up by different agencies be staggered in a phased manner to reduce inconvenience,” said a Delhi government official who attended the meeting.

“There is a general view that the entire Capital has been dug up. Not only has it inconvenienced the public but there is a gnawing fear that many of the ongoing work might not be completed on time.”

The three civic agencies carrying out pavement improvement projects and streetscaping — MCD, NDMC and PWD — have been asked to complete the work by June 2010.

“Only once the civil work is completed, respective agencies will be able to do landscaping of vacant spaces by planting trees. So, it’s important that the respective agencies adhere to their deadline,” said a ministry official.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is carrying out street scaping/road improvement on 14 roads enroute the different Games venues at a total cost of Rs 74 crore.

The New Delhi Municipal Council on its part is carrying out streetscaping work on all major roads in three phases at a cost of Rs 60 crore.

While just 46 per cent of work on Phase I has been completed, 35 per cent and 14 per cent work has been completed in Phase II and Phase III.

The Public Works Department is carrying out major road projects in about 400 kilometres at a cost of Rs 250 crore.

Motherwell boxer hopes India trip boosts Commonwealth hopes

MOTHERWELL boxer Michael Roberts is heading off to India for a Commonwealth Games dress rehearsal.

The Forgewood ABC man celebrated his 23rd birthday on Sunday and a medal at the Commonwealth Federation Championships in New Delhi would be the perfect belated present.

He and five other Scots flew to Malta this week for a five-day training camp before moving on to India where Roberts will be the first Scot to fight at the new 56kg weight.

Categories have been revised recently and Roberts, who always fought at 57kg (featherweight), has stepped down to the new class which replaces the 54kg (bantamweight) category.

His dad, also Michael, said: "I believe Michael has every chance of a medal. I was a boxer myself but he has more talent than I had."

Roberts will return to New Delhi in October for the Commonwealth Games so this trip will provide valuable experience of boxing in testing conditions.

Australian foreign minister meets Chidambaram, discusses attacks, Commonwealth Games security

Issues related to the attacks on Indians in Australia and security for the upcoming Commonwealth Games to be held here came up for discussion as Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith met home minister P Chidambaram today.

During the meeting, Smith apprised Chidambaram about the steps being taken by his government to prevent attacks on Indians and punish those responsible for earlier assaults, sources said.

The Australian minister told Chidambaram that 70 cases have been filed in regard with the attacks on Indians, many of which were racist in nature, the sources said.

The home minister, in turn, conveyed to Smith India's expectations about ensuring safety and security of its nationals there.

The two leaders also discussed issues related to the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty which was signed in July 2008 but is yet to be ratified, the sources said.

Security for the Commonwealth Games to be held here in October also came up for discussion, with Chidambaram assuring the visiting leader that adequate measures were being taken to ensure that the event passes off smoothly.

Earlier, Smith visited Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the main venue of the Games, and saw the preparations.

"I was impressed with the preparations being undertaken across New Delhi. I was pleased to be advised that the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium will be ready for the Commonwealth Games," he said in a statement later.

Not Many Foreign Visitors For Commonwealth Games

The Delhi government has, perhaps for the first time in a public forum, accepted that not as many international spectators would come for the Commonwealth Games as has been expected till date.

Speaking at an interaction `Face to Face with Government' with the FICCI Ladies Organisation, Special Secretary to the Chief Minister P K Tripathi drew parallel with the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where, he said, the number of international visitors fell short of "speculation".

Tripathi said, "There was serious speculation even during the Beijing Olympics (about high number of visitors) but hotel occupancy was ultimately only 25 per cent. International tourists do not generally come in huge numbers during October as it is not the holiday season for them."

Tripathi, however, said Delhi will not face a shortage of hotel rooms during the October 3-14 event: "I am sure we will have enough hotels for those who come."

Delhi Chief Secretary Rakesh Mehta, who was also present at the function, said, "There are no issues regarding arrangements during the Games except, may be, security. (But) even security is not much of a problem as there is a fairly elaborate multiple-tier security arrangement."

Commonwealth Games : Games HQ Fails Fire Safety Test, Yet To Get No-Objection Certificate

The Commonwealth Games headquarters on Jai Singh Road is again in news -- for the wrong reasons.

The Delhi Police's fire depart- ment has claimed that the build- ing is yet to receive a `no objec- tion clearance'.

The clearance is mandatory to occupy the building. Iro- nically, the building was occu- pied almost eight months ago.

Earlier, the Delhi Urban Arts Commission and the architect of the building came down heav- ily on the Games panel for the `pink and purple wrap' adorn- ing the façade.

Generally, the fire depart- ment issues the NOC or clear- ance certificate to any building after it is fully constructed.

After the go-ahead from the fire department, the municipal body concerned -- in this case the NDMC -- issues an occu- pancy certificate.

Fire department officials had inspected the building in January and found that it did not meet all requirements. "To obtain a clearance cer- tificate, a building must have in place a certain number of exit points, an efficient fire detec- tion system, extinguishers, smoke management system, alarms among others," said G.C.

Mishra, Chief Fire Officer. According to sources, it was found that a lot of exit points in the building were blocked and it did not have a proper detec- tion system.