The BJP today accused the authorities of inflating the cost of Commonwealth Games by 1500% and expressed fears that construction work related to the event may not be completed on time.
"The cost of the Games has astronomically shot up by 1500% from the initial assessment. This is a matter of serious economic irregularity. While in 2002 Manchester Games $14.63 million were spent, in CWG 2006 at Melbourne it was $1 billion, but in CWG 2010, it would be 18 times more," BJP general secretary Vijay Goel said.
The BJP leader maintained that when the NDA government won the right to hold the Games, the budget was Rs132 crore but now it is Rs87,000 crore. "It is a tragedy that in the name of speedy construction, many procedural requirements have been blatantly violated in tenders and bidding," he said.
Expressing concern at the "slow" speed of work, Goel asked prime minister Manmohan Singh to ensure that the projects are completed on a "war footing".
He further alleged that despite Singh's intervention and appointment of many officials to supervise the Games preparations, the situation had not improved.
"The successful start and completion of the Games seems to be a far cry... We are moving very slow and in a slipshod manner... It is an ultra alarming situation. Only a miracle can bring about in-time readiness of the infrastructure," Goel said.
He alleged that though only 70 days were left for the Games to begin, the differences between the Union sports ministry, the Organising Committee headed by Suresh Kalmadi and the Delhi government relating to the forthcoming event had not been resolved.
Goel said the construction work was not being undertaken in a planned manner as was visible from "excavations" going on across Delhi. "The whole city still lies totally dug-up," he said. He alleged that a lot of money was being wasted in such unplanned digging and "inexplicable expenditures".
