Commonwealth Games: A Rs28,054 crore disaster

Eight years ago, Sonia Gandhi, then leader of the opposition, fully supported the NDA government’s bid for the Delhi Commonwealth Games.

“Delhi has a proud sporting tradition and heritage as well as world class facilities. All of Delhi’s citizens would be honoured and pleased to host the 2010 Games. Please be assured that the city of Delhi and its people are united behind the bid,” she wrote on May 1, 2003, in the bid document submitted to the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF). Today, the Congress, Gandhi and the ruling UPA coalition would have nothing to do with the event. And the citizens of Delhi are united in forgetting it as their worst dream.

The main organisers — Suresh Kalmadi, Lalit Bhanot, VK Verma and ASV Prasad — are lodged in Tihar, while the under-utilised venues, and foundation stones bearing name of then sports minister MS Gill at locked stadiums, is the only legacy of the Rs28,054 crore Games.

The Games of this magnitude would generally serve as a springboard to bigger events in other parts of the world. But the Delhi Games have done so much damage that international bodies like IOC, CGF and OCA would think twice before entertaining India in future. So much so that Sri Lanka has to pay for Delhi’s sins. Hambantota is pitted against Gold Coast in Australia for the right to stage the 2018 Commonwealth Games. But due to the poor show in Delhi, some Commonwealth countries have announced their support for the Aussie city, just to ‘stay away’ from the Asian continent.

Among the four biggies, Kalmadi and Bhanot were the main masters while Verma and Prasad mere sidekicks. Apart from obvious greed, Kalmadi and Bhanot had also become arrogant, ignoring some well-meaning colleagues. They inducted inefficient ‘friends’ in the organising committee. Some of them are now alleged to have turned approvers.

Kalmadi has brought big-time athletics to India. Top stars like Carl Lewis, Sergei Bubka and Michael Johnson visited India for Permit Meets mainly due to Kalmadi’s initiative. But then, the Pune MP failed to adapt his autocratic style of functioning in the glare of an aggressive media. A 24x7 scrutiny exposed him before he could realise the damage.

Bhanot handpicked a former sports journalist and put him in charge of the press operations by stepping aside all norms. The individual in question had no experience of covering high profile international multi-discipline events and proved a total disaster. Just days before the Games started, he was transferred to the environment and sustainability department.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) pointed out the anomaly in his appointment. The press operations failed to deliver even the essential lists of visiting participants in time. As a result, there was no build-up to the Games. The media had no choice but to stand outside the Games headquarters. As a result, only controversies found their way into print and electronic space. An opportunity to promote Olympic disciplines was wasted.

The Games Village proved a bigger disaster than the press operations. The Village was just about temporarily made ready for the Games. Finishing touches were still being given when the foreign athletes started checking in. And controversy still surrounds the 1,000 flats built at around Rs1,600 crore. Over 450 buyers from EMAAR group have already paid Rs1,500 crore but the flats have not yet been handed over to them. That’s because the completion certificate is still awaited! Sharmila Tagore is among the high-profile buyers. Kathak dancer Shovna Narain, an additional director-general of the OC, is another. The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has more than 700 flats in the Village and their combined market value is Rs2,500 crore. But the DDA has failed to sell the flats and with 12% interest, tax payers have suffered a loss of Rs300 crore per annum due to this delay.

This is in total contrast to the scheme of things for next year’s London Olympics. The Village is already sold out to Delancey and Qatari Diar (a joint venture) for £557 million. Even the Asiad Village and the main Press Centre in Guangzhou last year was sold much before the Games began.

Excellent training facilities inside the Village are rotting for want of proper care. The Village has a synthetic athletics ground, warming up pool, gym and other training facilities. It is situated close to several residential colonies. But the facilities are not thrown open to the public who paid taxes and endured massive difficulties when it was being built.

The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium was renovated at Rs961 crore. A year on, it is loaded with junk. The Aerostat, the much-talked about balloon that hovered over the stadium during the Games, is lying among the debris. The ‘big bubble’, purchased at a cost of over Rs70 crore, has been dismantled and packed into containers and stored in the basement of the stadium. This makes the stadium the world’s costliest junkyard. The new synthetic track at the stadium was used for just a week during the Games. It is already broken at places. Last month, the country’s athletes participating in the World Championships requested the authorities to open the stadium so that they could train there before flying out to Daegu. But SAI said no.

The Shivaji Stadium is still not ready even though it was to serve as a practice venue (hockey) for the Games. Renovated at Rs185 crore, it is expected to be ready by December.

It is amazing that the Games were held with no long-term plan or vision. Ajay Maken, who took over as sports minister from MS Gill in January, has made tall claims for the utilisation of venues. But in real time, nothing much has been done. His one-point agenda has been to tame the national federations. He and his ministry officials have spent considerable time in drafting the proposed sports bill.

Soon after taking over, Maken assured that dues to all those who rendered services for the Games will be cleared within 10 days. But even after one year, contractors and companies around the world are still waiting for £50mn from the organisers. Foreign diplomats in Delhi have also raised this issue with Indian officials. But it was of no use.

For the locals, the Games were a nightmare. They cost Delhi Rs14,830 crore. Out of this, Rs11,000 crore was spent on the projects. But rains exposed the Delhi government’s inability. Broken roads, chocked drains, traffic snarls and incomplete projects are all what Delhi citizens have got in the bargain.

To maintain the venues after the Games, the sports ministry had come up with a ‘legacy plan’ that involved Public Private Partnership (PPP) for operations and maintenance of these stadia. Under this ambitious plan, the ministry wanted to hand over each stadium to private sector entities. But like most other plans, even this has remained in the files. And after one year, the ministry is as clueless even as the athletes are looking for a decent place to train.

The legacy of CWG 2010, in a nutshell, then is jailed top organisers, heavy financial burden on the exchequer, no or locked facilities for young sportspersons and a strong no-no to any such venture in future by Delhi’s citizens.

The writer is a correspondent (South Asia) with Deutsche Welle (German Radio)