Gill draws flak over Games preparations

Faced with a volley of criticism about Delhi’s lack of preparedness for the Commonwealth Games next October, Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs M S Gill had to do much firefighting in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

While Gill sought to allay concerns and assured that all work would be completed on time, several members called the situation worrisome.

Initiating the debate, BJP’s Kalraj Mishra said the ugly conflict between Commonwealth Games Federation president Mike Fennel and Games Organising Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi had reflected badly on India in the international arena. He expressed concern over the delay in completion of works at stadiums, shortage of accommodation, and security arrangements for the sports event.

Samajwadi Party member Jaya Bachchan said India would make a mockery of itself if it did not get its act together.

India assures foolproof security for 2010 Commonwealth Games

India has promised foolproof security for next year’s Commonwealth Games to be staged in New Delhi.

The senior functionaries of the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee disclosed this to reporters here on Thursday.

Earlier, plans were discussed at the two-day international security liaison conference organised by India’s federal Home Ministry and attended by experts from 26 of the 71 participating nations including Britain, Australia and New Zealand.

“All countries who had come, whether it is UK, Australia, they had come, they have seen not only the games village, they have seen the presentation and the security arrangements whether it is perimeter security within the games movements or from the games to the training and other venues and they were quite happy with that,” said Union Home Secretary G K Pillai.

He also mentioned that as a part of the security measures, the venues may be sealed a week or a fortnight prior to the commencement of the mega event.

“We hope to seal the venue 7-14 days before the start of the games,” added G K Pillai, Home Secretary, Government of India.

India formed the liaison group due to heightened safety fears over travelling to New Delhi for the competition that will be staged in October 2010.

“We will be catering for additional resources to manage the Commonwealth Games so that the working of the day to day business as usual has to continue because we have to keep Delhi safe,” noted Y S Dadwal, Commissioner of Police, Delhi.

As for the threat perceptions in the sports arena of the sub-continent, gunmen ambushed the Sri Lanka cricket team bus in Lahore in March, raising concerns that sport could become a target in the region.

Later, England pulled out of the World Badminton Championships held in India by citing a ’specific terrorist threat’.

However, the tournament went off smoothly and consequently, the British Sports Minister expressed regret to his Indian counterpart.

Speaking on the preparedness of the venues for the Commonwealth Games, Sindhushree Khullar, India’s Sports Secretary mentioned that all the venues will be definitely ready well in time.

Delhi had bagged the contract after beating the Canadian city Hamilton in the bid for the games.

The Games will be staged in India for the first time and in Asia for the second time. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, held the Commonwealth Games in 1998.

The 2010 Commonwealth Games will be India’s first major international sports event after the 1982 Asian Games.

Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) has committed its support to Canadian athletes competing in Commonwealth Games.

The Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) has committed its support to Canadian athletes competing in the October 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games.

Over the next ten months, the ICCC will support the efforts of the Commonwealth Games Foundation Canada (CGCF) to facilitate the "Dream it in Delhi" campaign - an initiative which will help send approximately 250 Canadian athletes to compete against more than 70 other nations and territories at the XIX Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India, October 3 to 14, 2010.

"We are committed to supporting these world-class athletes who will represent Canada at the Commonwealth Games," said Asha Luthra, ICCC President. "The ICCC and CGC share an important common goal: promoting and improving the relationship between Canada and India. We are proud to support Canadian performance on the international stage, and the strengthening of this relationship through sport."

On November 20, the ICCC kicked off its campaign for Canada's athletes at its Holiday Gala Dinner Dance in Toronto.

The ICCC's donations will contribute to the CGC's Adopt-an-Athlete program, which covers expenses related to travel and accommodation, medical services, team uniform, and media operations, among other costs. The ICCC joins several companies and organizations that have already made a donation to the program.

"We are thrilled that the ICCC has extended its support for Canadian athletes," said Krista Benoit, Director of Corporate Development of the Commonwealth Games Foundation of Canada. "This partnership is an obvious fit, and ICCC's investment in Canada's athletes will help to contribute to our goal of best-ever performances at the Games in Delhi, India."

Members of the public are invited to contact CGC or visit www.commonwealthgames.ca for details on how to contribute to the "Dream it in Delhi" fundraising campaign.

Ghaziabad police will install GPRS system in all its patrolling vehicles to better tackle crime in the city ahead of the Commonwealth Games

Concerned over the deteriorating law and order situation in the city, Additional Director General (Technical) Dev Raj Nagar said a foolproof monitoring system would be introduced in teh city soon.

He announced that the entire police control room system would be equipped with GPRS - the general packet radio service.

Dev Raj Nagar asked Senior Ssuperintendent of Police Akhil Kumar to submit a detailed proposal of Integrated Control System (ICS) involving a cost of Rs.2.17 crore.

As part of the system, each police vehicle would be equipped with GPRS system.

The new ICS will link all police vehicles to the Police Control Room at Kotwali. The location of each vehicle would be available with the control room at any given point of time.

'This would tremendously increase the beat patrolling and lead to an enhanced vigil. The scheme was to be implemented much earlier but could not be pursued,' said a senior officer of Ghaziabad police.

The new system will be implemented before the Commonwealth Games, the officer added.

GPRS is a value added service which provides a wide range of bandwidth.

India to promote safety of women and child visitors

With an eye to the Commonwealth Games 2010, India will soon launch an initiative to create awareness about providing a safe and friendly environment to foreigners, especially women and children.

The initiative ‘Safe and Honourable Tourism’ will especially focus on creating awareness among various stakeholders, including taxi drivers, auto drivers and hotel staff.

The idea is to promote a safe environment for women and children, who will be coming to India during the Commonwealth Games next year, a tourism official told IANS.

The decision to launch the initiative was taken Monday at a meeting chaired by union Tourism Secretary Sujit Banerjee with the Indian chapter of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), a non-profit travel trade association, which has networks around the world.

“We will soon come out with an action plan for all service providers. This is one step through which we will be able to highlight that we believe in responsible and sustainable tourism,” the tourism official said.

“The code of conduct will be out in six months time,” he added.

“This kind of programme will also add more value to the Incredible India campaign,” the official added. The Incredible India campaign, which has earned accolades globally, showcases India’s beautiful holiday destinations.

The ministry will also rope in the National Commission for Women, the apex body that protects and promotes the interests of women in the country, on what kind of awareness and sensitisation programmes should be carried out.

“It was decided that sensitisation programmes and awareness campaigns should be immediately launched,” the official said.

Also, present at the meeting were representatives from the Save the Children, a leading child rights organisation and United Nations on Drugs and Crime, a UN body fighting against illegal drugs.

Detectives may be used during Commonwealth Games

Private snooping agents may be used to carry out special checks on violation of Intellectual Property Rights on official trademarks and brand merchandise of the Commonwealth Games next year to avoid monetary loss to the tune of crores of rupees.

The organising committee of the games has explored the possibility with the private detectives association.

The spies will garner information from around the national capital region where small industrial units and individuals are said to indulge in manufacturing of duplicate and fake logos, symbols, sporting gear, apparels and other goods bearing official holograms and symbols.

"Violation of trademark and proprietary insignia dents the monetary interests of the official partners and business houses who put in huge sums of money to obtain sponsorship rights of such events," Chairman of the Association of Private Detectives and Investigators Kunwar Vikram Singh said.

"The brand protection cell of the organising committee of Commonwealth Games has spoken to us about the issue. We assured them that our professional snoopers can check the duplication and faking of official trademark and logos efficiently," he said.

The detectives, after deploying techniques of detection, identification, curtailment and prevention take help of the police to conduct searches at unauthorised premises resulting into arrests and seizures.

Singh, who also heads the Central Association of Private Security Industry, said the trademark violation is an area of concern for the organisers of such huge events.

"A delegation of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2014 had even come down here and inquired about the IPR violations and their remedial measures," Singh said.

The Organising Committee (OC) of the CWG, in a public notice issued earlier had said, "it has recently come to our notice that some organisations/persons who are not authorised are using these marks (official CWG logos) in respect of their products and services. These unscrupulous organisations and persons are thus cashing in on the goodwill and reputation of OC of CWG Delhi 2010 besides diluting the brand equity attached to these marks.

Any person indulging in unlawful use of the mentioned marks and any unscrupulous organisation/person who fails to desist from using the trademarks... and continues to conduct business... will be dealt with...," it added.

According to experts, money spinning events like the CWG are prone to such intellectual data theft as the activities are spread over countries and fetch revenues worth crores.

Fake bags, stationery, replicas and even merchandise are flooded in the markets before the start and during the games, they said.

Commonwealth Games Venues will be ready by March: Central Public Works Department (CPWD) chief

With less than a year left for Commonwealth Games 2010, Central Public Works Department (CPWD), the agency carrying out renovation and up gradation of five stadium, is determined to complete work on the sporting venues by March next year.

Newly-appointed director general of CPWD Bhishm Kumar Chug told TOI, "All the venues will be ready by March next year. Major thrust is on timely completion of work."

According to an urban development ministry report, by September, 64 per cent work had been completed in Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium (JLN), the venue for the opening and closing ceremonies. In case of Indira Gandhi (IG) Stadium, 56 per cent work had been done.

With a new time line in place, the CPWD chief was confident that both JLN and IG stadium would be ready by March, claiming construction work was going on at renewed pace. "Construction work is going on in double shift now," Chug said.

Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, which has achieved 89 per cent completion, would be ready by November whereas Karni Singh Shooting Range with 64 per cent completion, would be ready by December.