When the Games come to Delhi, will the lights work?

Engineers fear an electricity shortage when India's capital hosts the Commonwealth GamesA crowd of journalists followed the chief organizer of the Commonwealth Games as he strode under a trellis of fluttering ribbons and onto a red-carpeted stage. Suresh Kalmadi, chairman of the Games organizing committee, was not ducking the fact that he has less than 200 days left to transform New Delhi into a venue for the first major international sporting event India has hosted in a generation. He threw a party to celebrate the looming deadline, bringing professional kite flyers and mural painters to serve as a backdrop for his brash statements.

“All the infrastructure is upside down at the moment,” he said. “But I tell you one thing: You will have a great city.”

India is tearing up its capital city in a frenzy of construction, hoping to use the Games to show off its status as a rising power. But the spotlight may prove unflattering when the event starts on Oct. 3. Electrical engineers warn the festivities will draw too much power from the national grid, causing blackouts in areas surrounding the city. New electrical plants are among the many infrastructure projects not likely to get finished before the opening ceremony.

Part of the problem may be the scale of India’s ambition. Its winning proposal, which beat out competitors such as Hamilton, Ont., called for a sweeping overhaul of the city. An estimated 400,000 labourers are working day and night on a dizzying number of roads, bridges, subways, overpasses, airport facilities and sports complexes.

Half-finished buildings stand like skeletons on the skyline. Tens of thousands of homeless people have been evicted and their shelters bulldozed. Other slums are screened from public view by bamboo fences.

The government has started a campaign to teach English to workers in the hospitality industry, and the tourism ministry is cajoling residents with billboards and leaflets urging them to be polite.

However, India aims for even bigger things. During his press event, Mr. Kalmadi wore a straw hat with the Olympic rings embroidered on the brim. If his team can successfully host athletes from the 71 countries of the former British Empire, the accomplishment will support India’s claim that it can handle delegations from more than 200 countries for an Olympics.

For the moment, however, it seems that India may have trouble just keeping the lights on.

Shailendra Dubey, secretary-general of the All India Power Engineers Federation, says three of five coal-fired plants envisioned as sources of power for the games are nowhere near finished. Delhi already experiences regular shortages of electricity; estimates of the additional load required by sporting venues and the influx of visitors range from 100 to 500 megawatts.

Those shortfalls are not likely to come from the city’s supply, but are expected instead to result in load-shedding in rural districts. Mr. Dubey suggested that the surges in demand predicted for the Games could result in 12-hour shutdowns of the electrical system in his home state of Uttar Pradesh.

“The whole state will suffer,” he said.

Kunwartal Singh, a spokesman for the Central Electricity Authority, disagrees. “No, no, this is not the situation.” he said. “We’ve made arrangements for electrical supply.” He referred to the authority’s website, with projections that show Delhi will have an electricity surplus in the coming year. The same projections, however, also show shortages in neighbouring regions.

Even if the government drains electricity from outside the city for the Games, there are questions about whether Delhi’s ramshackle power lines can handle the additional current. “They are snatching the quota from other states,” said Satya Pal, general secretary of the Delhi Vidyut Board Engineers Association. “But we have no capacity for it. The internal system is weak.”

If it happens, the electricity shortfall will be another hardship for the workers who are building venues for the Games. Thousands live in camps around the construction sites. The electrical engineers say it would be a bitter irony if those new buildings caused blackouts in the workers’ home villages.

Still, the work camps also stand as an example of India’s ability to fix its problems. The sprawling site of the Commonwealth Games Village became an embarrassment last year when reports described fatal outbreaks of meningitis and degrading living conditions for the labourers. Now the camp has a daycare, washrooms and medical facilities.

Mritunajay Kumar, 24, a carpenter, earns the equivalent of about $4.50 for an eight-hour shift and sleeps in a tin-roofed hut. His hometown is a 28-hour train ride from Delhi, but he says it was worth the trip to earn a little extra money.

“We probably have a year of work left, not 200 days,” he said. “But they can hold the Games, and we will continue working on the side. Everything is almost done, but not finished. The finishing touches will be during the Games.”

So, he was asked, will visitors see carpenters hammering at the venues? “You won’t see us,” he said. “But we’ll be there. We’ll be working.”

He added, helpfully: “Nothing will fall down.”

Delhi, take it easy

As a weekend sandstorm coloured Beijing desert-yellow and residents were warned that the grainy air was unsafe to breathe, I stayed home trawling Delhi’s preparations for the forthcoming Commonwealth Games. Was I reading about the capital of India or China?

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit says “we want to change Delhi’s public culture”. The line takes me back to the summer of 2008 when a communist official in a little black skirt told me, “We want to improve the citizens’ quality and human culture.”

As Delhi spends copious administrative machinery after getting inspired by the Communist Party of China’s ‘civilised’ game plan, it might be worth noting that Beijing did not evict bad manners in a temporary campaign. The Office of Capital Cultural and Ethical Progress Construction spent four years teaching Beijingers three-second handshakes, eight-teeth smiles and how to warmly applaud.

After four years and over four million etiquette pamphlets of the kind that Delhi is printing for its ‘rude’ citizens, the campaign had mixed results. The beggars of Beijing speak better English than the taxi-drivers who received free textbooks. The beggars say ‘hello’ and ‘money, money’. The taxi-drivers still say nihao, can’t say ‘left, right,’ and many of them still shoot spit with special sound effects.

New Delhi, I read, wants ten states to take their beggars back. After the Olympics tourists left, Beijing’s beggars came back to their spots outside malls selling knock-offs. If the Delhi government thinks its citizens are rude, try buying a Mao clock in Beijing’s counterfeit goods market. If you don’t buy, the salesgirls will ask you to never return. A normal sales practice is to clutch wrists in a kung fu grip.

Privately, Beijingers warmly applauded the end of the games so that they could get on with life. The English textbooks and etiquette lessons are forgotten. The Olympic rings that decked an arch opposite my apartment lie tossed on a parked truck. But the world is still talking about Beijing’s real Olympian change — new subways, airport, railway stations and continuing anti-pollution policies. That’s what Delhi needs to note.

As Beijing’s rival Shanghai reels under peer pressure to banish pyjamas in public and train Miss Etiquettes for the World Expo to take place between May and October, a party-backed newspaper recently ran a surprising editorial. It asked Shanghai to ‘take it easy’ because the event need not be perfect.

Several frequent-flying Chinese regularly tell me that India’s ‘public culture’ (yes, the same one Delhi wants to reform) and Indian cities are more international and foreigner-friendly than China. In fact, they want Beijing to do a Delhi.

Commonwealth chief to take up Games workers' deaths in India

Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma says Indian authorities should look into allegations that 43 workers have died on sites being built for the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

In remarks made ahead of an official visit to India, Sharma said that although it was not in his remit, he would discuss the allegations - made by a five-member panel set up by Delhi High Court to look into workers' conditions at Games sites - during his stay in New Delhi.

I have read what you have. I hope the wrongs will be corrected. India has a large commitment to the games. From that angle, I hope these are looked at, Sharma, who leaves for India Friday, told journalists Monday.

We are not the direct interlocutors. It is for the Indian side and the Commonwealth Games Federation to do this. But, the Games are like a flagship of the Commonwealth. We stay in touch off and on, he added.

The Times newspaper last week quoted panel member Arundhati Ghosh, former Indian ambassador to the UN, as saying: This could have been an occasion to show the rest of the country how to do things, but they haven't. You can't be proud if you treat the people who built the venue so badly.

Mike Hooper, chief executive of the London-based Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), told the paper he backed the panel's recommendations, adding: There is no excuse for operators or contractors to circumvent the laws of India.

Sharma, who will meet with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal, said he was confident Delhi would be ready in time for the Games and that the event would be a big success.

Will be ready for Commonwealth Games by Aug: Sheila Dikshit

With a little over six months to go for the nineteenth edition of the Commonwealth Games to get underway, Delhi's Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit said preparations are on in full swing and Delhi would be ready for the Games by August 2010.

In an exclusive interview with Vir Sanghvi on CNBC-TV18's show Off The Record, Dikshit spoke on a range of issues.

Excerpts from the interview.

Q: I want to start by asking you something that is on the top of our minds and that’s the Commonwealth Games? How ready are we?

A: We are ready. I won’t say that we are ready at this moment. But things are moving and they are moving according to schedule. It could be a month this way or that way but certainly by July-August everything will be in shape.

Q: One of the problems people say is that there is a multiplicity of authorities involved, there is the Commonwealth Games Association locally, there is their counterpart internationally who they appear to be fighting with, there is the sports ministry, there is you and your government. Has that been a problem?

A: Yes that was certainly a problem. But the Prime Minister set up this Group of Ministers (GoM). Since the GoM started working effectively and we all came together the message went down to the officers who implement everything that we decide or whoever decides. It went down clearly that we have to work together. What I am still not very comfortable with is the opening and the closing ceremonies.

Q: What happens next? Fourth elections?

A: It’s a long way off, I am not even thinking of that. Right now I am immersed completely in the Commonwealth Games.

Q: You can rule it out and say no three is enough?

A: That’s what I would really think so. I think Delhi also needs a change.

Commonwealth Games sees sponsors trickle in

Sponsors for the Commonwealth Games 2010, to be held here this October, appear to be trickling in.

While the Organising Committee has tied-up Coca-Cola India as the official beverage partner for the Games, it has also roped in public sector units like National Thermal Power Corporation, Air India, Indian Railways and Central Bank of India for sponsorship besides companies like Hero Honda. The OC is understood to be in advanced talks with other private players like Maruti, Samsung, LG, Adidas and Reebok too.

The Committee has also raised $15 million (Rs 68 crore) through broadcasting rights and Prasar Bharti is the official broadcaster besides other rights holding broadcasters who will broadcast the Games in other countries.

The Committee has to return Rs 1,620 crore that the Sports Ministry lent it with the help of sponsorships. But it is not disappointed with the results. “We are getting sponsors who are offering sponsorship in cash and kind, and most of them will come over the next few months. The inflow is very encouraging,” Lalit Bhanot, spokesperson for and secretary general of the Organising Committee told Business Standard.

The Committee has categorised its sponsors as lead partners who will get sponsorship worth Rs 100 crore each, partners who would get Rs 50 crore worth of sponsorships each, Rs 25 crore for the sponsors and around Rs 10 crore per partner. There will be two lead partners which the OC is yet to finalise. Besides, there can be 10 partners and 12 sponsors taking the total number to 24.

However, the co-sponsor slot is still in the pipeline. “The co-sponsors category is being discussed but it is in the pipeline,” said an OC official.

Meanwhile, Coca-Cola India, as the official beverage partner, will have its products like carbonated soft drink, water, juice and juice drinks exclusively sold to spectators and served to all the athletes, team officials and volunteers during the games which will be begin on October 3 and end on the October 14 this year.

Category of sponsors Sponsorship amount (Rs cr) Numbers expected
Lead partner 100 2
Partner 50 10
Sponsor 25 12
Co-sponsor <10 To be decided


The OC has also hired an international firm Sport Marketing and Management Private Limited (SMAM) with which it has a sponsorship and licensing technical services agreement. “SMAM is our marketing agent and will bring us services. They have worked in other Commonwealth Games too,” added Bhanot.

“Though the OC believes that sponsorships will flow in the least six months and has partners like Steel Authority of India, besides Air India and others, we don’t see as many foreign sponsors coming in. Broadcasters are there but there are far too many promises of contracts. It is only after the Games are over that we’ll know the amount they return,” said a sports ministry official.