Special sight-seeing buses in Agra during CWG

Tourists visiting Agra during the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi will be taken for sight-seeing in special tour buses to be launched very soon.

Agra district authorities Saturday announced a plan to start an exclusive sight-seeing bus service, which will pick up tourists from hotels and take them around local tourist spots.

Another bus service will take tourists to Fatehpur Sikri, District Magistrate Amrit Abhijat said.

Abhijat said the special buses will make it convenient for tourists to see not just the Taj Mahal but also other historical monuments in the city.

The administration also announced a total ban on spitting and littering near historical monuments. Violaters of the order would be booked and fined heavily.

New hoardings and signages for the convenience of tourists are also being put up near the Taj Ganj area around the Taj Mahal.

Commonwealth games on LeT, Qaeda radar: US analyst

With less than hindered days to go for the Commonwealth Games 2010 in Delhi, security concerns have resurfaced with a US think-tank affirming that the terror threat to the international sporting event still holds good.

When a national news agency questioned the Vice-President of Tactical Intelligence, Stratfor, Scott Stewart if the Commonwealth Games, scheduled to kick start in OCt 2010, was still on the terror radar, he said, "Yes".

"Yes. Two days after the Feb 13, 2010 blast in Pune, Ilyas Kashmiri (a wanted al-Qaeda terrorist) threatened the Field Hockey World Cup, the Indian Premier League cricket competition and the Commonwealth Games," Stewart is quoted as saying by the news agency.

Substantiating his statements, Mr Stewart recalled the warning issued by Kashmiri speaking of the continuation of the "attacks all across India until the Indian army leaves Kashmir".

The al Qaeda leader, who had said that the season three of Twenty20 cricket series Indian Premier League (IPL) and the Hockey World Cup were potential targets, had also warned the participating countries against sending their atheletes to India.

Cautioning that the country can not wait for a similar terror warning to be issued by the terrorists themselves to step up security and be prepared to thwart any strike, the analyst said, "If you are a militant group planning an attack, the last thing you want to do is to provide a distinct warning and place the security forces on high alert.

"There are, however, many different militant outfits (such as the LeT) that have an interest in hitting India and it is possible that one of them may be planning something," Stewart said.

"Again, we would not expect to hear a threat from a group that was planning an attack, especially the closer we edge to the event they want to attack. They would be very quiet. Publicised threat statements made by militants are not a reliable way to judge the true threat to an event," he added.

Usain Bolt won't run at CWG, confirms manager

Usain Bolt will not be running at the Commonwealth Games, his manager Ricky Simms confirmed to TOI on Wednesday.

"I can 100 per cent confirm that Usain will not be running at the Commonwealth Games," Simms informed after the sprint champion’s name figured in the preliminary list of athletes submitted to the Commonwealth Games organisers by the Jamaican Olympic Association.

"Maybe this list was sent in some time ago," Simms added. "The Commonwealth Games is not on Usain’s schedule for this year."

Simms in fact, echoed what Bolt’s coach Glen Mills had said last week. Bolt had himself expressed doubts over his Commonwealth Games participation in a interview to TOI last year.

If finding Bolt’s name on the Jamaican list had raised the Games’ organisers’ hopes, Simms had a stern message for them.

"I do not understand why the CWG official cannot just accept his decision and stop putting out more stories in the press. They should focus on the athletes who are coming to India," Simms said through email.

Bolt might not be willing to come to India as a guest either, if invited. "I don’t think Usain would want to come to India as a guest. He is scheduled to resume training after a 4-6 week break at that time," Simms said.

Ministers to oversee CWG projects

With just three months to the Commonwealth Games and several infrastructure projects still in various stages of construction, Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit has asked her cabinet of ministers to personally monitor the progress of each work.

In a recent, informal cabinet meeting, Dikshit distributed areas to all her ministers and assigned inspection duties to them.

While finance minister A.K. Walia has been assigned east Delhi, public works department minister Rajkumar Chauhan has been asked to concentrate on works being carried out by his own department. Walia will also keep a tab on progress of all works the Municipal Corporation of Delhi is managing for the sporting event.

While the deadline of most of the projects has already been stretched, Dikshit has told her cabinet to ensure the projects do not get delayed any further.

Sources said health minister Kiran Walia has been asked to look at the projects in south Delhi. She is also overseeing the upgradation of medical facilities in Delhi hospitals.

Delhi social welfare minister Mangat Ram Singhal has been given charge of north Delhi projects.

Delhi set for major sanitation drive ahead of Games

With the Commonwealth Games drawing near, civic authorities in the capital are Thursday set to launch a sanitation drive, which would include disinfecting railway stations, bus stops and major markets.

“This special awareness programme on cleanliness will be carried on from July 1 to July 15. The MCD (Municipal Corporation of Delhi) will engage sanitation staffs, a five-member team in each zone to check and supervise the sanitation work,” Delhi Mayor Prithvi Raj Sawhney said at a press conference Wednesday.

Apart from this special team, every department of the MCD will participate in this cleanliness drive.

“We are planning to visit every ward within two days from Thursday to supervise the cleanliness programme,” Mayor said.

Major points of the city like the Old and New Delhi railway stations, inter-state bus terminus, airport, markets, religious places and major road junctions would be cleaned and treated with disinfectants.

The corporation will give special attention to the sanitation of latrines and urinals in schools and hospitals run by the civic body.

To prevent waterlogging during the coming monsoon season, the MCD has a special plan to remove debris from several areas in the city. The officials will identify at least one site in each ward where garbage or debris generated out of construction can be thrown, Sawhney said.

About complaints of debris due to works pertaining to Commonwealth Games, he said: “We will ensure that these will not go into drains, as it would lead to waterlogging during rains. We will strictly monitor and if drains are filled with debris, payments to the concerned contractors will not be made until they clear it.”

MCD house leader Subhash Arya said Rs.1 lakh would be provided for every ward in the city to hire trucks to clean the debris from drains before the monsoon sets in.

“Apart from this, the civic body has installed over 600 pumps across the city to avoid waterlogging,” he added.

30,000 Games volunteers to be trained in 3 months

With three months to go before the Commonwealth Games, the OC is now getting its volunteers trained as D-Day approaches. While the timescale is delayed as usual for the Melbourne Games in 2006, training had taken place almost a year in advance, OC is hoping that three months will be enough to train 30,000 people on not only how to help in conducting an international event but also, how to react in emergency situations.

It's a concern that OC's training partners, a consortium headed by Amity University including Event Knowledge Services (EKS) besides others, claims will be tackled by the day-long programmes that have been devised for training the volunteers. Said Christian Napier of EKS, "The timeline has been a challenge... but there are advantages to conducting the training near the event date, since their (volunteers) motivation levels are kept high.'' EKS, incidentally, was the training partner in the Melbourne Games as well as in the Asia Games in Doha and the recent PanAsia games in Rio.

Motivation levels were certainly high on Wednesday as a group of 250-odd volunteers underwent the first phase of training. The training which has been divided into general (one day), role specific (half day) and venue specific (half day) sessions will be imparted to 30,000 volunteers who have come from all walks of life. For many, it's a lifetime opportunity that has brought them from over 500km away like Rahul Goel from Bhatinda. Or simply a desire to showcase the city to a bunch of outsiders like Razi Ahmad from Jamia Milia university. "I'm a student of history and I'd like to pass on my knowledge about the city's past to the visitors,'' added Ahmad. What's common amongst all is the high level of dedication and the willingness to spend time doing something for Delhi. Said Shantanu Basu, one of the trainers at the venue, "The sessions are not only geared to disseminate information but also turn this disparate group of people into a team.''

The volunteers, who will be deployed across various functional areas, have been selected by not only OC officials, but also 40 Delhi government school teachers. Of the 30,000 shortlisted, around 4,000 are from the general public, comprising housewives, retired officials, senior citizens. The others are from Delhi University, ministry of tourism, NCC, NSS and the Delhi government. Added Ashok Chauhan of Amity, "The training methodology has been specially structured for the Games by us, EKS and other consortium members.'' Interestingly, while Amity is training the volunteers without charging OC, its deal with the latter will enable it to be part of the branding exercise for the Games. Said Sudhir Mittal, a senior official from the OC, "The sponsorship is based on the amount of the VIK (value in kind), allowing Amity to advertise as part of the Games brand.'' The sponsorship is worth Rs 15 crore.

Amity university official trainer for CWG volunteers

Amity University has been selected as the official trainer for 30,000 volunteers and 2,000 workforce for the Oct 3-14 Commonwealth Games.

More than 2,000 students from Amity have been selected as volunteers during the Games and over 310 students of Amity have already served as volunteers during the test events.

“The volunteers will be expected to work in any of the 22 Functional Areas. They will gain knowledge and experience which will add immensely to their skill set and competitiveness,” Ashok K Chauhan, president of Amity University told reporters here Wednesday.

There are four phases of volunteer training — general training, role specific training, venue specific training and leadership training.

After the general training, the role specific training (half a day) of over 22,000 volunteers, will start from July 1 and finish by August-end. Venue specific training (half a day) of all 30,000 volunteers will start from Aug 1 at various stadiums and will finish by September 15.

“The leaders chosen from among these volunteers will then undergo the leadership training at Amity,” he said.

The training modules have been very carefully designed to meet the requirement during the games, said Chauhan.

The general training is divided into eight sessions providing comprehensive details on the background of the CWG, heritage of Delhi, workforce operations, accreditation process for different groups, conflict resolution and the importance of communication.