SAI stadia will be handed over on Aug 1

The Sports Authority of India (SAI) said on Monday that the nine venues it was preparing for the Commonwealth Games were completely ready and it would hand them over to the Organising Committee by August 1.
Dismissing media reports that claimed that the SP Mukherjee Swimming Stadium, one of the venues it was developing, was far from complete, a senior SAI official said all work at the stadia was as good as over.

"As far as sports requirements are concerned, everything is complete," HS Kingra, special officer of Commonwealth Games, told TOI on Monday. "There are no problems in SAI stadia. There is no leakage, seepage or anything like that."

Referring to media reports, he said: "As per requirements in diving, two diving boards are enough, three are not required. There were also reports that the warm-up pool hinges are loose. But I ask how can they get loose when they are yet to be used? They are loose because they have been not been tightened which we will do in coming days.

"And as reported that there were leakages, I want to state that they are spurts which are a requirement in diving."

Meanwhile, a SAI official said that the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, one of the venues which was yet to be inaugurated, was ready and would be handed over the Commonwealth Games organising committee by August 1.

"The building is ready, field of play is also ready. Some work on the lawn outside is being done which will be completed soon," he said.

MCD projects’ deadline pushed again

After postponing the deadline for Commonwealth Games related works taken up by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), the civic body officials on Monday once again pushed it by one month to August 30, 2010. “The projects were slated to finish by June 30 as per earlier deadline and most of the
works have been duly completed. It is only those works which are hampered due to other agencies’ road cutting that are pending,” the administration (Engineering Department) gave these answers in reply to short-notice question.

“The High Powered Committee has decided July 31 to be the deadline for all road cutting works and restoration works. All works would be completed by August 30,” said Leader of the House Subhash Arya and councillors Suman Kumar Gupta and Ram Kishen Singhal.

Leader of Opposition Jai Kishen Sharma had raised the issue during House meeting even as he criticised the ‘tour’ by Mayor Prithviraj Sawhney and Arya.

“You took the media on tour of only those places which were almost complete. But there are scores of projects that are incomplete,” Sharma said and read out all the projects and their status of completion.

Tata Motors buses for Commonwealth Games will be disabled-friendly

Tata Motors will deliver disabled-friendly vehicles to the Delhi Government for the Commonwealth Games this year.

“We have an extra order to make 400 buses for the Delhi Transport Corporation to be used during the Games, of which some will be disabled-friendly,” Mr Ravi Pisharody, President, Commercial Vehicles, Tata Motors told Business Line.

The company won the contract to supply vehicles for the Games that begin in October.

The company will showcase its hybrid buses as well during the event — these are likely to be CNG-plus-electric technology vehicles that assure 20 per cent improvement in fuel efficiency.

Commercial vehicles

Tata Motors will also supply small commercial vehicles such as the Ace and its passenger range for the Games.

“By September, we would have delivered 2,600 low-floored air-conditioned and non-air conditioned buses to the DTC over the last two-and-a-half years,” he said. The move to introduce disabled-friendly vehicles is one of the various measures implemented in the Capital, which is hosting the Games, to keep up with international standards.

Disabled-friendly vehicles usually have special features such as an in-built ramp and are more spacious.

joint venture plant

Mr Pisharody said the company had also ramped up capacity in its joint venture plant with Marcopolo in Dharwad, Karnataka, that rolls out 1,000 fully-built buses a month.

On State transport undertaking orders under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, he said, “We have more or less completed the orders. The combined order of STUs is around 5,000 buses. Some of them are still under execution.”

As for the bus market, he said the company did not have as many Government orders as it used to. “We are, therefore, looking at retail market of buses. The response from private players has been encouraging,” he added.

Classical dances, martial arts to take centrestage at Games ceremonies

At the recent FIFA World Cup in South Africa, everyone danced to the tunes of Latin American star Shakira, but the opening and closing ceremonies of Commonwealth Games here will have no foreign influence and will be a truly Indian affair. Six classical dance forms, martial arts and sounds from the bazaars, it will be India all the way at the two ceremonies.

Incidentally, the centrepiece of the 2006 Melbourne Games was the 11 minutes allotted to India. The Scots, who will host the next edition in Glasgow, won’t get a similar time slot this time.

OPENING CEREMONY: The first eight minutes of the opening ceremony are being taken care off by ace percussionist Taufiq Qureshi, who is known for his exotic style of intricate rhythm structures on instruments like the djembe, duff and the bongos. The theme for the first eight minutes is ‘The Great Indian Bazaar’ where the audience will get a feeling of “how Indian streets sound like”, says Qureshi. “I have used different rhythm structures for every little detail of the bazaar which has been mish-mashed with sounds like an iron-smith using his hammer, a paanwala talking to his customers early in the morning and so on,” he adds.

This will be followed by voices of Baul and Naga singers and sounds of bamboo dancers, actually recorded samples provided by Bansi Kaul, a Delhi-based theatre director. Kaul was roped in by the Organising Committee one and a half months ago because of his extensive knowledge on the folk idioms of India. The next 15 minutes will have 480 artistes divided into six groups of 80 dancers each performing six Indian classical dance forms. Kathak, Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Odissi, Mohiniattam and Manipuri were chosen after brain-storming sessions with Kaul and the creative team headed by Bharat Bala. The theme here will be ‘Indian seasons’. Each group will be dancing to the same beat, but in their own forms. A few of the selected dancers will be on the central stage too.

Kathak maestro Birju Maharaj, who is handling the Kathak bit, said: “They have given monsoons to me, which is apt for Kathak. Most of the dancers are my students. But some of the other kathak dancers like Shovana Narayan have also sent her students because this is being done at a large scale,” says Maharaj.

A R Rahman, who is composing the anthem for Commonwealth Games, will also be performing during the ceremonies.

The one-hour ceremony with almost 9,000 artistes, dancers and musicians will also have the traditional march of participating countries led by 2006 host Australia.

CLOSING CEREMONY: The closing ceremony will be more about India’s martial art forms. This will include Kerala’s Kalaripayattu, Punjab’s Gatka, Manipuri Thang-ta and Tamil Nadu’s Silambattam. “It is after all a sporting event and I think the theme should showcase combat sports of India to the world,” said Kaul.

Behind the scenes
COST
Rs 300 crore

BRAINS BEHIND
Headed by Bharat Bala, the creative team includes Shovana Narayan, Prathibha Prahlad, Uma Ganapati Raju, T S Darbari, Javed Akhtar, Shyam Benegal and Prasoon Joshi

CREATIVE CONSULTANT
Ric Birch from Italy, heads of Spectak Productions

EVENT MANAGEMENT
Wizcraft International Entertainment Pvt Limited

FIREWORKS
Howard and Sons an Australian firm who were behind the pyrotechnics of the Melbourne Games

Himachal to supply exotic flowers for Games

Himachal Pradesh will supply its exotic flowers to Delhi for the Commonwealth Games. The state has secured an order worth Rs 31 crore for the purpose.

“This is a big opportunity for us, which we will have to encash. The Horticulture department is compiling a district-wise list of growers who can get direct orders for supplying flowers during the Games,” said state’s Horticulture Minister Narinder Bragta.

Till now, districts like Solan, Sirmaur, Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Kangra and Chamba have taken a lead in the cultivation of best varieties of flowers. With farmers switching over to polyhouses, Bilaspur is now way ahead in the race.

Himachal currently grows marigolds, carnations, tulips, lilies, gladioli, chrysanthemums and roses. Last year, over 680 hectares of land was under flower cultivation with at least 3,000 farmers making a business of Rs 45 crore. Carnations and roses will be in big demand during the Games.

To facilitate the flower producers, the government has made the Horticulture Produce Processing and Marketing Corporation (HPMC) the nodal agency to assess the demand and help growers in its marketing.

“Five districts have already sent us a list of growers, which will be provided to the HPMC,” said B S Guleria, a horticulture official.

In Chamba, the Churah Valley Farmers Cooperative, which has already made its name in the cultivation and marketing of flowers from the state’s most backward block, is likely to get a big share of the orders.

“The society has a turnover of over Rs 1 crore. We are leaders in the flower market in Delhi. Our samples were adjudged best in some foreign countries,” said J C Sharma, who is the brain behind Churah valley’s flower revolution.

Solan is another potential floriculture belt where farmers are excited about the order. Atam Swaroop, a farmer at Mahog, said: “I have planted one lakh carnations and 50,000 to 60,000 chrysanthemum plants. The annual turnover from these flowers is around Rs 25 lakh.” He hopes the Games will bring him additional orders.

Nalagarh and Kandaghat farmers have also diversified into floriculture, getting good returns.

Games will generate $4,940 million: PwC

The Commonwealth Games in Delhi is expected to rake in more money that the previous editions held in Manchester and Melbourne, says a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) India. In fact, while the athletes compete at the venues across the city, business delegations from 54 countries will be engaged in talks and deliberations during the during the Games fortnight. 
While the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games generated business worth $3,400 million, the next edition in Melbourne could make just a modest $1,600 million. But Delhi is expected to break all records and earn $4,940 million, says a PricewaterhouseCoopers India study done for the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee. The Games will also generate a total of 2.47 million jobs, great news as most countries are just crawling out of the economic slowdown.

Although, the Delhi Police had raised questions over holding business meets during the games fortnight, the Organising Committee insists that it will go ahead as they are a part of the Games calendar and cannot be put off. The Committee is now trying to rope in Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to address during the inaugural business session.

“It will be a unique opportunity for the business delegation from across the world to interact. More over, the world wants to know more about the Indian economy, which has remained strong even during the recession,” said T S Darbari, joint director Organising Committee, who also heads the Business Club of India. 

The business meets will concentrate on key issues like green manufacturing and water technologies, luxury goods, infrastructure, medical tourism, oil, gas, energy and power. In the run up to the event, roadshows will be organised in Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chennai in August and Mumbai in September.

Business schedule

October 7 Green Manufacturing and Water Technologies, Luxury Goods Forum 

October 8 Infrastructure Conclave with session on energy, power, oil and gas October 11 Tourism Conclave

October 12 Conference on Education, IT and skills

October 13 Cuisine and Commerce, Food safety and Nutrition

MS Gill inaugurates swimming pool complex for Commonwealth Games

Union sports and youth affairs minister MS Gill on Sunday inaugurated the ‘remodelled and reconstructed’ Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Swimming Pool Complex, one of the venues for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, at the Delhi University campus.

The function was held in the presence of Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit, Commonwealth Games Organising Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi, several sports persons and senior sports ministry officials.

“This is an outstanding complex and a remarkable engineering marvel. It is equipped with all the modern facilities even better than the Melbourne Games,” Gill said.

The complex, which was constructed in 1982 to hold the Asian Games, has been upgraded and renovated with state of art facilities to meet the international standards required for hosting world-class aquatic events.

With a total seating capacity of 5000 spectators, the complex now has the largest cohestrand supported, breathable and elliptical shaped aluminum roof.

It is the largest covered aquatic stadium in the country having Olympic-sized racing and diving pools with a six lanes warm up pool.

The 12-day sporting extravaganza will be India's biggest sporting event since the 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi.