After 100 challans, Delhi drivers fear the blue lane

Even as commuters faced a harrowing time on Monday, inching through jammed city roads with lanes earmarked for Games traffic, the traffic police challaned some 100 people for straying into the dedicated lanes. The dedicated lanes on roads from the Games Village to Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Major Dhyanchand Stadium and Indira Gandhi Stadium were restricted. The 1,600 blueline buses keeping off these stretches only added to the commuters’ woes.

“A 100 people were challaned today. And as expected, there was congestion on the stretches which were restricted. But everything went on smoothly, including facilitation of Games buses to the practice venues,” said Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Satyendra Garg.

In view of restrictions on normal vehicular traffic movement, the ridership of Delhi Metro saw a sharp rise of 65,000 commuters on Monday, as compared to last Monday. As many as 12.62 lakh commuters had taken the Metro till 8 pm. The Traffic police has advised people working in and around the CGO Complex in Lodhi Colony near Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium , the main venue of Commonwealth Games, to use car pools, Metro or public transport from Tuesday when movement of vehicles will be prohibited near the main venue. This arrangement will affect traffic bound for CGO Complex, Electronic Niketan, Soochna Bhawan, Scope Building, MTNL, Pragati Vihar and Lodhi Colony Type-V residential complex.

“No buses or paramilitary forces heavy vehicles will be allowed to move on the Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium road. They are instructed to move on Lala Lajpat Rai Marg and Lodhi Road and drop passengers at the petrol pump and near the bus stand on Lodhi Road, NBCC respectively,” Garg said. The vehicles having parking labels issued by the Security Wing of the offices concerned will be allowed to enter the office complexes and be parked inside.

In another order, the Delhi Police also notified that parking or halting of any type of vehicle, except Games-related traffic and vehicles of Delhi Police and the emergency services, is prohibited on any part of the roads where dedicated Games Lanes have been notified till October 16. Violators shall be punishable under Section 188 of the IPC.

Commonwealth shame scores high on Twitter

India jumped into the world’s twitter map on Thursday. The collapse of a bridge, coupled with the flash of photographs of filthy Games Village across cyberspace, has made the keywords ‘CWG’ and ‘Commonwealth Games’ as the seventh and 10th most tweeted topic in the world by the 190 million twitter community, this week.

Tweet trends in the UK and Australia show ‘Commonwealth’ as the most popular tweeted topic. India’s twitter map also shows CWG, and #CWG as the top-most tweeted keyword, followed by ‘Kalmadi’, ‘Ayodhya’, and ‘Verdict’.

The tweets started pouring from across the world as one of the most accessed news websites in the world, put India’s Commonwealth shame as lead stories on their home page on Thursday. The barrage of tweets from across the world peaked around 2 pm IST on Wednesday, and 3 pm on Thursday.

News coupled with splash of pictures of UK-based DailyMail’s expose of filthy conditions inside some rooms of the Games Village, resulted in angry comments from the world’s 190 million Twitter community. India’s shame splashed across world’s top media sites, made the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh himself step and take charge of the matter.

Some of the overseas web magazines tweeted about pullout of their local sportsmen, while individual tweeters showered sarcasm on India’s readiness. ‘Cyclingweekly’ magazine service tweeted: Peter Kennaugh and Geraint Thomas have withdrawn from the Isle of Man and Welsh teams for the Commonwealth Games.

‘Djmaxwell’ from Britain said: “Commonwealth games athletes village...I feel sick. Team GB, don’t go!” “Doctor_Hutch from Australia said: “Commonwealth Games kit just arrived. They forgot the chest waders and the biohazard suit.”
Not only on microblogging sites like Twitter, the callous attitude of the Commonwealth Games organising authorities, is also being lambasted by social networkers on Facebook.

Users in India have created forums and groups lambasting the slackness of the organising committee. One of these groups is called Jhel (bear) The Commonwealth Games. The group with over 2000 members has designed its own logo and distributing black bands to protest against the corruption in the Games.

However, there are other groups as well upbeat about the games. Youth volunteers who are likely to help in the organising of the games, are upbeat on this Facebook Group Commonwealth Games XIX, and post regular updates and coordinate for sporty event, despite the media criticism.

Commonwealth Games work leading to power cuts

Transco Shutting Lines To Facilitate Construction At Various CWG Sites

Power cuts have become a regular affair this summer.However,this time the situation is not just a result of overdrawing by neighbouring states.As part of the Games preparations,the capitals power transmission utility Delhi Transco has been shutting several important electricity lines for civic agencies to carry out work over the past two months.With this,even available power has not been able to reach several households in peak summer.

On Wednesday,too,south Delhi was hit by several outages.Vasant Kunj residents were for a second consecutive day without power for up to six hours. On Tuesday,we had no power for 10 hours.On Wednesday again power went off at noon and was restored only late in the evening, said Amit Aggarwal,a member of the RWA.These outages,say sources,were probably a result of Transcos shutdown of the Mehrauli-Bamnauli transmission line to erect a transmission tower near Rajokari flyover for better power supply to IGI Airport.This is not the first instance when Games-related work has led to closure of transmission lines this summer.

Earlier,the 220kV Maharani Bagh-Lodi Road line was first shut in February/March for about 10 days and again from April 9 to April 28.This shutdown was necessitated by ongoing work on Barapullah Nullah.In May,Transco shut the crucial 220kV Badarpur-Okhla line almost for the entire month,this time for DMRC.Transco said it had to increase the height of a tower near Sarita Vihar to allow the Metro a better passage.One more transmission line was shut by Transco near Rajghat power house for tower work this summer.

Moreover,transmission lines have also been hit by several technical snags.On Wednesday,power in south Delhi colonies was further affected when one of the Badarpur-Mehrauli lines tripped.The forest department was pruning some trees in the area and a few branches fell on the line.The line could be restored only by evening and south Delhi areas witnessed outages on a rotational basis,said discom sources.

Though power sector experts agree that shutdown of these lines was essential keeping in mind the Gamesrelated work in the city,they added that the timing of the shutdown could have been more consumer-friendly. Shutting critical lines in peak summers always leads to a disaster.These could have been shut earlier in the year when demand was not so high, said an expert.Delhi Transco,however,said that the transmission line was not shut on their account. The Maharani Bagh-Lodi Road line was closed for the PWD,Badarpur-Okhla line for Delhi Metro and Mehrauli-Bamnauli line for IGI Airport.We closed the transmission lines as per their request to facilitate ongoing work in the area.They needed it for development work, said a Transco spokesperson.

Natasha in Oz CWG lawn bowls squad

Natasha van Eldik was today included in the Australian lawn bowls pairs squad for the Commonwealth Games to be held here in October. According to a statement by the Organising Committee of the Commonwealth Games, the 19-year-old will become the youngest lawn bowler to wear Australian colours in a Commonwealth Games competition. She will line up alongside reigning gold medallist, 26-year-old Lynsey Armitage. The pair won the silver medal at the eight-nation tournament at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium lawn bowls facility here in April. That convinced Australian coach Rex Johnston that Van Eldik was ready.

''I got the call at 6.45 this morning...they said we would get a call whether we had made the Commonwealth Games team or not so I didn't know what to expect,'' she was quoted as saying in the Australian media. ''It's a bit overwhelming really. In 12 months I have debuted for my country, played about 14 or 15 games for Australia and now I'm going to a Commonwealth Games. It's a dream come true,'' she added.

Twenty-year-old Kelsey Cottrell, a reserve four years ago, will make her debut in the women's singles, while Sharyn Renshaw (NSW), Claire Duke (NSW) and Julie Keegan (NSW) have been selected to play in the triples.

In the men's disciplines, world number two Leif Selby has secured the coveted singles role while Mark Berghofer and Aron Sherriff will play in the pairs and Brett Wilkie will partner defending Games champions Wayne Turley (NSW) and Mark Casey (QLD) in the triples.

Australia topped the medal count in Melbourne four years ago with three gold, one silver and one bronze. National coach Rex Johnston believes it is possible to replicate that performance in Delhi.

''We're extremely happy with the final 12 that has been selected,'' he said, preparing for his sixth successive Commonwealth Games campaign as a player or a coach.

''We have a strong mix of youth and experience, with the likes of Armitage, Turley and Casey being given the chance to defend their respective gold medals from Melbourne, while we've also invested our faith in the likes of Cottrell and Selby who have proven to be world class players over the past couple of years,'' he added.

The team: Men: Singles: Leif Selby; Pairs: Mark Berghofer and Aron Sherriff; Triples: Brett Wilkie, Wayne Turley and Mark Casey. Women: Singles: Kelsey Cottrell: Pairs: Lynsey Armitage and Natasha Van Eldik; Triples: Sharyn Renshaw, Claire Duke and Julie Keegan.

Focus on Connaught Place re-development ahead of CWG

With thousands of foreign visitors likely to throng Connaught Place during the upcoming Commonwealth Games, Delhi Urban Development Minister A.K. Walia Tuesday asked civic officials to focus on the area’s re-development and complete the event-related works by June.

During an inspection to check the ongoing CWG project at Connaught Place, Walia said development of the area was on at 11 blocks and 75-81 percent of the work has been completed.

He said the re-development of Connaught Place was important as a number of tourists, players and officials of sports organisations from several countries will visit the place in October.

The minister, along with New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) chairman Parimal Rai, also inspected other ongoing Games-related project sites under the civic agency.

He directed the NDMC to complete all civic works before the onset of monsoon and concentrate on horticulture work thereafter.

An NDMC official said that keeping in view the requirement of parking for vehicles during the Games, the civic agency has chalked out a plan to make available ‘Park and Ride’ service at the Safdarjung Airport.

With a total area of 170,000 square metre, there will be a parking space for 3,000 cars, 6,000 two-wheelers and 450 buses, he added.

“This move will help in decongesting main entry and exit roads leading to the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, the main site for the Commonwealth Games,” the official said.

Walia also visited the renovated Talkatora Stadium, where boxing tournament will take place during the Games, besides Shivaji Stadium which will be used as training venue for hockey.

CGF praises OC, cites ''remarkable progress''

Praising the Organising Committee for the progress in the preparations for the Commonwealth Games (CWG), CGF Co-ordination Commission chairman Austin Sealy today expressed confidence that the capital will host a successful multi-sports event this October.

The Commonwealth Games Federation's (CGF) Coordination Commission has spent the past four days in the city, evaluating preparations for the Commonwealth Games that get underway in the Indian capital on October 3 - in just 151 days.

The Coordination Commission, which is on its final visit before the Games, received detailed presentations from the Organising Committee (OC) and its delivery partners.

It also received reports from the various venue construction agencies on the progress of competition venues, the athletes village, and other CWG infrastructure projects and undertook site visits to the main venues.

''It has been a fruitful visit. The progress since the last visit is remarkable,'' Sealy told reporters here.

''I congratulate the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) for the progress they have achieved. ''I also thank the government of India for their support,'' he added.

The CGF Co-ordination Commission chairman however, cautioned that the OC still has a lot of work to do before the CWG gets rolling, specially since some of the Games venues are still to be completed.

''Kalmadi and his team still has to cover a lot of work.

''The rest of the venues must be completed in time for the remaining test events. Particularly the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium and the swimming venue (Talkatora stadium),'' Sealy stated.

''But we are confident that all the work will be completed in time,' he added.

Expressing satisfaction with the security arrangements, he said,''The CGF Co-ordination Commission has been satisfied by the police and security. ''I would like to assure the participants and visitors that the security arrangements are top class and we have nothing to fear.'' Sealy was also happy with the level of interest shown by the sponsors in the CWG.

''I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of sponsorsorship that the Organising Committee has been able to attract. ''The amount of sponsorship is in fact, much larger than that of the previous Commonwealth Games in Melbourne

in 2006,'' he asserted.

Kalmadi meets Manmohan Singh over new tenure regulations

Indian Olympic Association officials along with a delegation of National Sports Federations met the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, on Wednesday over the issue of new tenure regulations.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, Kalmadi said, "We met Prime Minister over the issue of the IOA autonomy."

"We have assured the Prime Minister that the Commonwealth Games will be a huge success. We conveyed that Sports Minister M S Gill should not have come out with all these ideas now. He should have come out after the Games. The Prime Minister has said that he will look into the matter," Kalmadi added.

The officials are also unconvinced as to why this stir had to come just months ahead of the Commonwealth Games.

They have termed the government move as interference in their affairs and even warned that the attempts to erode their autonomy may invite international ban on India.

The new regulations restrict National Sports Federations presidents from occupying the posts for over 12 years, with or without break.

When it comes to secretaries and treasurers, the regulations allow them to serve eight years at a stretch and to seek a re-election only after a four-year gap.

Apart from Kalmadi, the regulation seeks to end the over a decade-old reign of VK Malhotra (archery), Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa (cycling), VK Verma (badminton), Captain Satish K Sharma (aero club), B S Adityan (volleyball) and Jagdish Tytler (judo).

Test event for CWG held in Chennai

Even as the CWG 2010 organizers are racing against time to meet deadlines to deliver all stadia for the Commonwealth Games in time, the test events for the Games, which were supposed to be the barometer for the preparedness of the marquee event, are leaving a lot to be desired.

The Siri Fort Complex, which hosted the Asian badminton championships last month, was to host for the Asian squash championhip scheduled from April 21-May 5, but the event was eventually held in Chennai as the Siri Fort complex was not ‘completely ready’. With the purpose lost, the Squash Racquets Federation of India is now planning to have a test event after the venue is ready in June.

"The calendar of the events is decided earlier, so the dates cannot be changed. The venue was not fully ready, so we decided to hold the event in Chennai. It will be ready by June. We may hold a test event after that," said Srivatsan Subramaniam, secretary general, Squash Racquets Federation of India (SRFI). National coach Cyrus Poncha revealed that the decision to shift the event to Chennai was taken sometime in January. "We were not sure about a few things. So we decided to change the venue in January. The stadium is virtually ready now. It will be complete very soon. We will definitely have something (test event) then," he said.

Meanwhile, top Indian players sounded unperturbed and are focused on doing well in the coming events.

"It doesn’t really matter where we play. We as professionals have to play at different places but I hope that it is finished on time," said Dipika Pallikal, ranked 38 in the world. India’s top-ranked squash player, Saurav Ghosal, who lost in the semifinals of the championships, sounded satisfied with his performance and hoped that a test event would happen before the CWG.

"I played really well except Monday. Though I am disappointed, I am not getting bogged down and am looking forward to playing better in the coming tournaments. I am not sure what these guys are working on but getting to play at the Siri Fort complex before the Games would certainly help," Ghosal said.

David, Iskander defend title

World No. 1 Nicol David of Malaysia retained her Asian Championship women’s title defeating Rebecca Chiu of Hong Kong 11-6, 11-7, 11-7 in 24 minutes.

Later, another Malaysian, Mohammad Azlan Iskander, also defended the men’s title after Amir Atlas Khan of Pakistan conceded the match in the third game due to a niggle in his right knee. Iskander was leading 11-8, 11-4, 3-0 when the match was called off.

Nearly 4,000 tourist guides to be employed for CWG

Nearly 4,000 regional tourist guides would be employed keeping in mind the expected rise in demand during the Commonwealth Games in October, a tourism ministry official said Tuesday.

The guides will be distributed in five regions across the country - northern, southern, eastern, western and northeastern - and will be given licences under the tourism ministry’s scheme of Regional Level Guides.

“The number of Regional Level Guides until 2007 was 1,930 of which 1,154 were in the northern region alone. Thereafter, 602 such guides have been trained during 2009-10 by the Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management (IITTM), Gwalior,” the official said.

“In addition to this, there will be 1,400 foreign language guides. Thus the total number of guides available before the Games will be 3,932,” he added.

Commonwealth Queen’s baton to reach India June 25

After travelling through 71 countries, the Queen’s baton will reach India June 25 ahead of the Oct 3-14 Commonwealth Games. The relay will be the longest ever in the history of the games.

The Queen’s baton is currently in the world’s smallest island nation of Nauru in the South Pacific Ocean on day 188 Tuesday of the relay, which was flagged off by Queen Elizabeth II from Buckingham Palace Oct 29, 2009.

From the Pacific islands, the baton will travel to Australia and New Zealand, before making landfall on the Asian continent at Singapore.

The specially-designed baton, made of light-weight aluminium and plated with gold, will wind its way through Asia, before reaching India from Pakistan June 25.

When it finally touches Indian soil, the baton would have travelled through 71 nations and territories for a total of 340 days covering 190,000 kilometres.

Within the country, the baton will travel another 20,000 kilometres, which will be a serpentine journey through 28 states and seven union territories before ending at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Oct 3.

Secure radio network planned for CWG

A secure radio network is being planned for the upcoming Commonwealth Games to facilitate easy communication between various government agencies, the Lok Sabha was told Tuesday.

‘The government is planning to create a secure radio network using the Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) facility for the Commonwealth Games. The system will provide integrated, secured, encrypted, state of art communication network for use during Commonwealth Games,’ Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Kalikesh N. Singh Deo said in the house.

The network will be used by 18 government agencies, including the Commonwealth Organising Committee, Delhi Police and health and family welfare ministry.

BJP protests govt's failure to solve water crisis

Protesting the government failure in solving the water crisis in trans-Yamuna areas, the Delhi BJP today said the government's priorities were IPL matches and Commonwealth Games even as the people of Delhi were ''crying for water''.

Holding a protest demonstration at Bhajanpura Chowk in east Delhi, the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) leaders strongly criticised the Congress government for its failure to give priority to the availability of water and its proper distribution.

''The priorities of the government are IPL matches and the CWG whereas the people of Delhi are crying for water,'' Delhi BJP president O P Kohli said.

Besides Prof Kohli, Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly V K Malhotra, National General Secretary Vijay Goel, Party Legislators Sahab Singh Chauhan and Naresh Gaur and former Chairman of the Standing Committee Vijendra Gupta also participated in the demonstration. Saying that there is a grave scarcity of water in trans- Yamuna areas, Mr Kohli flayed Congress MLA Narendra Nath for misbehaving with the people .

''In place of giving assurance for solving the problem, they misbehave with the aggrieved people,'' Prof Kohli said. All the speakers at the demonstration termed the diversion of water from Ghonda area to Mustafabad as a step based on politics. They said the people of Ghonda and Babarpur are already suffering due to the scarcity of water. If the water of these areas is diverted to other areas, then the people of these areas would crave for a single drop of water.

Delhi Police rapped for under utilising CWG funds

Delhi Police has been rapped by a Parliamentary panel for under-utilisation of funds allotted for modernising its traffic and communication network, noting that there was "serious lacunae" in the implementation of the project ahead of the Commonwealth Games.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs headed by M Venkaiah Naidu expressed "great concern" that the project was not initially timed to be completed before the sporting event in October.

The panel also said the Home Ministry has told them that the Delhi government was of the view that the provision of Rs 50 crore made in the budget was not sufficient for completion of Commonwealth Games related projects and needed to be enhanced to Rs 1,000 crore.

"The Committee expresses its displeasure over the under-utilisation of funds meant for modernisation of Traffic and Communication network for which Rs 40 crore was allocated in budget estimates in 2009-10 but only an amount of Rs 10.63 crore could be utilised which indicates serious lacunae in the implementation aspects of the project," it said.

The panel was also "perturbed" to note that the remaining amount has been appropriated for other purposes namely Delhi Police Building Programme.

This was mentioned in its 144th report on Demands for Grants of Home Ministry presented in the Rajya Sabha last week. The panel discussed this matter while discussing security for the Commonwealth Games.

It suggested that the government provide funds to put in place a fool proof security system, noting that organising such an event is a "major challenge" not only from the point of view of infrastructure investment but also from the security aspect "given the global security scenario".

The panel said it has been told by the Home Ministry that Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) will put in place an integrated security system at 36 venues by June 30. Most of the equipment for CCTVs and access control would also be made available by June.

The work regarding installation, commission and testing of Wide Area Network will go up to September three.

The Committee also asked the Home Ministry whether the provision of Rs 50 crore for Delhi government in the budget 2010-11 would be sufficient for completion of remaining Commonwealth Games related projects.

"The Ministry has stated that the Delhi government has informed that the provision of Rs 50 crore made in the budget was not sufficient for completion of remaining projects and it needed to be enhanced to Rs 1,000 crore," the report said.

Proposed: 17 new flyovers for Delhi

If you thought all construction activities in Delhi would come to an end after the Commonwealth Games in October this year, you are mistaken. Brace yourself for yet another round of digging from next year.

Delhi public works department (PWD) has prepared a long list of flyovers and elevated road projects “to improve movement of traffic in Delhi.” While Unified Traffic and Transport Infrastructure and Engineering Centre (UTTIPEC), the agency that approves road and infrastructure projects, has already cleared a few, some projects are still in the planning stage.

“Though we have constructed many flyovers, which have solved traffic problem in Delhi to some extent, there is scope to do more,” said Delhi PWD minister Rajkumar Chauhan.

Among other projects, the PWD is planning two new bridges over the river Yamuna. According to PWD officials, the volume of traffic coming from east Delhi has grown manifold in the past few years and is expected to grow more.

“The existing bridges are not enough to carry the huge volume,” a PWD engineer said. A string of flyovers along the 17-kilometre stretch of Outer Ring Road from Vikas Puri to Wazirabadare among 17 new projects the PWD is working on, the engineer said.

Kalmadi guarantees CoCom members of significant development

The Chairman of the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee (CGOC), Suresh Kalmadi, on Monday assured the members of the Coordination Commission (CoCom) of the Commonwealth Games Federation that significant progress has been made in all areas towards successfully hosting the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

The committee would itself witness the considerable progress in all areas since their last visit in December 2009, said Kalmadi in his inaugural address at the opening session of the CoCom meeting here, chaired by its President Austin Sealy.


"A lot of progress has taken place since the previous CoCom visit. The city of Delhi will be ahead by 10 years in terms of modern state of the art infrastructure and stadiums," said Kalmadi.

"I am thankful for all the support and guidance that CoCom has extended to our team and their pledge to continue to support the organising committee in successful organisation of Delhi Games," he added.

Kalmadi further said Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has showing interest in the build-up to the Games and had organised the meeting of the Group of Ministers (GoM) to take stock of the entire efforts.

Austin Sealy praised the efforts of Kalmadi and said: "I have toured the venues including the main press centre and broadcasting centre and found them good."

Earlier in December last year, the seven-member CoCom delegation had reviewed New Delhi's preparation for the mega event.

India's CWG boss, Suresh Kalmadi, told his time is up India's long-serving Olympic chief Suresh Kalmadi was on Monday given a government deadline to

India's CWG boss, Suresh Kalmadi, told his time is up

India's long-serving Olympic chief Suresh Kalmadi was on Monday given a government deadline to quit, prompting criticism exactly five months before the country hosts the Commonwealth Games.

The sports ministry ruled that heads of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and national sports federations cannot remain in their posts for more than 12 years or beyond the age of 70.

Kalmadi, the chief organiser of the October 3-14 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, has served as the IOA president for 14 years and turned 66 on Saturday.

But the ministry has allowed Kalmadi and other sports chiefs to complete their current tenures, ensuring there is no break in preparations for the Commonwealth Games.

Kalmadi, whose current term ends in 2012, declined to comment on the sports ministry's diktat, but other officials slammed the move.

"It is a ridiculous decision," said opposition lawmaker Vijay Kumar Malhotra, who has headed the country's archery federation for 31 years.

"It makes no sense. People have served in parliament for 30 years, many of our ministers are above 70, so why this rule only for sports officials?"

Sports Minister Manohar Singh Gill, a former chief election commissioner, defended the decision to limit sports chiefs' tenures.

"This order will serve the best interest of sportspersons of the country and it will give an impetus to transparent and professional management of Indian sports in the new century," Gill said in a statement.

Former stars, like athlete Milkha Singh, welcomed the regulations.

"It is a step in the right direction, it should have happened much earlier," said Singh. "It will lead to better people joining the federations and that can only be good for sports."

Politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen have often been accused of turning sports federations into their personal fiefdoms, holding on to their posts for years to remain in the spotlight.

Former sports minister Sukhdev Dhindsa has headed the cycling federation for 14 years; bureaucrat V.K. Verma has run the badminton association for 12 years and businessman B.S. Adityan has been volleyball chief for 12 years.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India, the richest sports body in the country, has a fixed tenure of three years for its president. The present incumbent Shashank Manohar is a lawyer.

CWG set to become the biggest draw

I knew instinctively that the world had started seeing the larger picture of the Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi when in one of my recent interviews, an overseas journalist asked me about the importance of the Games to India’s emergence as a soft power. With 155 days to go for the start, there is growing awareness about India and its incredible draw.

Perhaps, that is the reason we continue to hear good news from countries as far flung as Australia and England. In the past week, the Australian Commonwealth Games Association CEO, Mr Perry Crosswhite and Commonwealth Games England Chairman Sir Andrew Foster have reassured their athletes that Delhi will be safe and secure for their athletes and have said they will both bring the biggest contingents to a CWG outside their home nations. Between these two teams, I guess they will account for nearly 1200 participants in the Games.

From a sporting perspective, I was delighted to hear that Australia has named a preliminary squad of 69 track and field athletes including world pole vault champion Steve Hooker. Australia has also announced a 48-member swimming contingent including 2008 Olympic champion Stephanie Rice and former world record holder Eamon Sullivan. Olympic silver medallist Geoff Huegill, who has lost 45kg in a year and a half, is also in the squad. Double Olympic gold medalist swimmer Rebecca Adlington and world champs Liam Tancock and Gemma Spofforth will spearhead England’s challenge.

I was also pleased when I heard that England’s Bradley Wiggins, who had three Olympic gold medals and five world championship titles against his name, has decided to focus on competing in the Commonwealth Games ahead of the World Championship to be held in Australia in September 2010. And, in Adelaide, World and Olympic champion Anna Meares, who is expected to compete in three events in Delhi, has said all the Aussie riders were looking forward to locking horns with their British rivals and the strong Kiwi team at the Games.

Indeed, when the Queen’s Baton was in Sydney, Melbourne and Gold Coast this month, we saw how sport can be a marvellous bridge between societies. Friendship through Sport is one of our key themes and we will see this emerge in a big way when the baton reaches India from the Wagah Border on June 25, 2010.

Back home, as we prepare to host the CGF’s CoCom next month, we are very confident that we are on course to organising a great Games that will leave an impact in the minds of all concerned — athletes, technical officials, sponsors, broadcasters and other media, volunteers, spectators and, above all, the citizens of Delhi. We have got a tremendous response for our volunteer programme Delhi United, inspiring confidence that the city’s young and old alike have started taking ownership of the Games. Besides, I can see a growing awareness about Olympic sport in India.

Let me leave you to mull over a statement by Australia’s Chef de Mission. A wonderful marathon runner in his time and Mayor of the Games Village in 2006, Steve Moneghetti told the media on the sidelines of the Queen’s Baton Relay 2010 in Melbourne that he is really looking forward to returning to Delhi. “It’s such a cosmopolitan place and a place you really fall in love with,” he said. I am sure each athlete will say the same after the Games. Yes, indeed, it is time for everyone to discover what a beautiful city Delhi is and what a wonderful country India is.

It's Commonwealth Games

The countdown has started. With a little under six months left for the Delhi Commonwealth Games (CWG), India's fight with the clock is on. And because of its practical and political value, Delhi 2010 has become a highly sought-after commodity, the long term impact of which hinges not only on what happens during the Games, but more appropriately on the legacy it will leave behind.

India is almost ready to offer the world's athletes a first-rate Games village alongside first-rate facilities for most sporting competitions. Barring the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, construction of which has also picked up pace in recent months and the S P Mukherjee swimming complex, most venues are set to stage the test events leading up to the Games. The two venues mentioned are also likely to be ready before the country faces the world's cameras come August 2010 when the final countdown will start.

More than venues or the Games village, it is our urban infrastructure and the issue of community integration that appear to be of paramount importance in the time remaining. With Sheila Dikshit and Jaipal Reddy giving assurances on the issue of infrastructure, the government has been given the benefit of doubt. But, on the issue of community integration, the verdict is out: Delhi has a lot to catch up on.

One of the questions posed by the public is: whose Games are these? Do they belong to the organising committee or the government of India? Or do they belong to the Indian people at large? If it's the latter, as should be the case, little has been done to give citizens the feeling that it is their event and that it is being organised to benefit them in the long run. Unless the effort to promote community integration is undertaken with immediate effect, the legacy of Delhi 2010, it can be surmised, can be mixed at best.

Studies around Delhi and the National Capital Region help demonstrate that the ordinary taxpayer, whose money is being used to fund the Games, is still in the dark about most things pertaining to the mega event. For him, it is an exercise in opulence with little or no benefit in the longer term. Most believe that the sports facilities being created will never be within the reach of the common man and the problems facing them on a daily basis will far outnumber the gains promised.

While Delhi residents haven't yet raised the slogan "We want bread not circuses" of Toronto citizens in the 1990s and one which derailed that city's Olympic bid in 1996, they are smarting under the impact of the entire city being dug up. Hence they seem opposed to the biggest event in India's sporting history. Unless the organising committee is successful in winning people's confidence, the emotional connect so necessary in ensuring a successful Games legacy will be extremely difficult to achieve.

The other key element is how a mega event of this nature can finally create a sports culture in India. Can CWG 2010 create a rallying cry of 'sport for all' in all parts of India or will sport continue to be a haven for the rich? The notion of sport for all was certainly part of the Delhi 2010 vision which states, "More than all, the legacy of the XIX Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi will be to boost...sports culture as a part of the daily life of every Indian, particularly the youth." However, the ground reality is somewhat different. With the stakeholders under incessant pressure to ready infrastructure on time, the vision of sport for all has receded into the background.

This inability to promote sport among the nation's youth becomes extremely pertinent in light of the observations of leading sports historian Bruce Kidd. He affirms that "despite the widespread 'intuitive' expectation that inspiring performances stimulate new participation, there is no evidence that they automatically lead others in the general population to do so, let alone in ways that address the most difficult challenges of development". Research demonstrates, he argues, that unless those inspired enjoy full access to sustainable programmes with safe, adequate facilities and conducted by competent, ethical leadership, the take-up - and the resulting benefits from mega events is short-lived and ineffective.

These observations are extremely relevant when applied to the legacy of the 1982 Asian Games in Delhi. There's little doubt that Delhi was fundamentally transformed as a result of that event. But it can definitively be asserted that the legacy of the Asian Games remains negative when viewed in terms of nurturing an all-pervasive sports culture in India. This is a drawback that helps explain why India has won one solitary individual Olympic gold medal in all these decades.

Knowing full well that the tremendous effort and cost of staging a major sporting event need to go along with the realisation of a sustainable legacy for sport, Delhi needs to step up and set an example. Only if this is done can Delhi serve as a perfect model of what the CWG could achieve if the facilities constructed for it are properly harnessed for the city's development.

Delhi Police finalises 'crises management plan' for CWG

The Delhi Police has made each major games venue the responsibility of a senior official to ensure quick response to any threat or contingency that may arise during the Commonwealth Games.

The officials have been empowered to take immediate action including force deployment and seeking support from other security agencies without going through normal bureaucratic channels.

This 'crisis management plan' has been finalised in consultation with paramilitary forces like the National Security Guard and the Central Reserve Police Force and local bodes like the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, the New Delhi Municipal Council and the Delhi Fire Service.

"Each games venue will be supervised by a deputy commissioner of police, additional commissioner of police or joint commissioner of police. They will be responsible for guarding it and deploying resources in case of any contingency," a senior police official said.

"Each games venue will have sufficient number of police personnel, a bomb squad, fire tender, electronic surveillance and other security arrangements. Besides this, elaborative security measures have been planned for other places to be visited by athletes and spectators," he said.

The Commonwealth Games are scheduled to be held in Delhi between October 3-14.

Delhi Police finalises 'crises management plan' for CWG

The Delhi Police has made each major games venue the responsibility of a senior official to ensure quick response to any threat or contingency that may arise during the Commonwealth Games.

The officials have been empowered to take immediate action including force deployment and seeking support from other security agencies without going through normal bureaucratic channels.

This 'crisis management plan' has been finalised in consultation with paramilitary forces like the National Security Guard and the Central Reserve Police Force and local bodes like the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, the New Delhi Municipal Council and the Delhi Fire Service.

"Each games venue will be supervised by a deputy commissioner of police, additional commissioner of police or joint commissioner of police. They will be responsible for guarding it and deploying resources in case of any contingency," a senior police official said.

"Each games venue will have sufficient number of police personnel, a bomb squad, fire tender, electronic surveillance and other security arrangements. Besides this, elaborative security measures have been planned for other places to be visited by athletes and spectators," he said.

The Commonwealth Games are scheduled to be held in Delhi between October 3-14.