Commonwealth village stinks, but Suresh Kalmadi & Co give themselves clean chit

With less than 48 hours left for the arrival of the first batch of athletes to the Commonwealth Games (CWG) village in the capital, the Suresh Kalmadi-led CWG organising committee (OC) was racing against time to set things in order.

The village is under fire for filthy and unlivable conditions, but the authorities seemed to be in denial mode.

OC secretary-general Lalit Bhanot said, “The standards of cleanliness and hygiene differ from person to person. What one thinks is clean may not appear that clean to others.”

“The first athletes will arrive on Thursday evening. Within 36 hours, everything will be clean. All concerns are being looked into. Seventy percent of towers are already clean, and the rest will be clean too,” he said.

CWG Federation president Mike Fennell had recently written to cabinet secretary KM Chandrasekhar, expressing concern at the poor hygiene and cleanliness at the village. Besides Fennell, Commonwealth Games associations of New Zealand, Scotland and some other countries criticised conditions at the village, claiming it was unlivable.

CWG Federation CEO Mike Hooper also criticised the organising committee, which he said had promised a cleanup of residential towers by September 19.

“Some progress was made, but certainly insufficient to satisfy a majority of the Commonwealth Games associations. Some parts of the village are filthy and inhabitable. Everything must be ready before the athletes arrive on Thursday, as they deserve the best,” Hooper said.

He said the federation had sought the Indian government’s direct intervention to provide maximum resources to fix the problems.
Top government officials, including Chandrasekhar, Union sports secretary Sindhushree Khullar, principal secretary to the prime minister TKA Nair, Delhi lieutenant governor Tejendra Khanna and Delhi chief secretary Rakesh Mehta reviewed the situation at the village.

Chandrasekhar is learnt to have instructed departments concerned to get their act together and clean up the village as soon as possible. Union urban development minister S Jaipal Reddy said he was not worried and assured all that the Games would be successful.

About 7,000 participants and officials from 71 countries will attend the Games, scheduled from October 3.