A look back at Commonwealth Games bungling

From the original estimate of Rs296 crore, the 2010 Commonwealth Games finally worked out to Rs28,054 crore, nearly 100 times more, according to the Comptroller and Auditor General of India report.

Ranging from inflated prices of toilet paper to shoddy work at the stadia, the Games witnessed alleged massive financial bungling at many levels.

A massive amount Rs101.02 crore was spent on streetscaping and beautification of roads in the capital. The decision to use imported street lights on selected roads resulted in avoidable expenditure of more than Rs30 crore.

The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General stated that a fleet of 2,500 low-floor buses for Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) were procured at an inordinately high price. It cost the exchequer an additional Rs61.10 crore over the justified cost.

For communications around the games venue, the Delhi government awarded the contract for Tetra - professional mobile communications - to HCL-Motorola at Rs99.81 crore for an 87-month period. The CAG found that the decision to extend Tetra for legacy use for seven years was ill-conceived.

The CAG had also pointed out deficiencies in contract management in the inner and outer circles of Connaught Place, where granite stone kerb instead of concrete was used "with a difference in expenditure of Rs5.97 crore". 

Audio video equipments for sports presentations were hired at exorbitant rates, through a highly flawed process. The CAG inquiries also revealed that the quoted prices for purchase of the same equipments was about half the hiring cost.

Apart from this, large amounts of money was spent on procuring potted plants to green Commonwealth Games venues.

The price of first-aid kits varied between Rs4,741 to Rs3,934; tissue paper varied between Rs1,580 to Rs1,314; while a water dispenser's price varied between Rs11,852, and Rs9,855.

A pigeon-hole cupboard declared to be worth Rs5,200 at the customs, was given at a rate of Rs14,440; a bookcase declared to be worth Rs2,840 was given at Rs7,655; a stackable chair of Rs720 was declared worth Rs1,542.

The CAG also pointed to irregularities in awarding the construction contract of the residential complex at the CWG Village in PPP mode to Emaar MGF Constructions Pvt. Ltd.