The director-general of the National Cadet Corps, Lt. Gen. R.K. Karwal, has asked Commonwealth Games organising committee chief Suresh Kalmadi to reconsider his decision to do away with taking the help of National Cadet Corps cadets from outside the Delhi region “lest it become a demotivating factor.”
Lt. Gen. Karwal said: “Apart from the time and effort which has gone into the selection and screening process so far, the cadets have also sacrificed their time in preparing for these activities at the cost of their academic curriculum.”
Mr Kalmadi, however, in a letter dated May 14, had rejected the National Cadet Corps’s request, saying: “The decision on the overall requirement of volunteers has been taken after due deliberations and in the best interests of smooth preparation and conduct of the Games.”
In another letter dated May 10, Mr Kalmadi informed the NCC that the number of NCC volunteers required was estimated at 5,000 a year ago, but the “additional” cadets from outside Delhi would not be required as an “adequate” number of NCC cadets from the Delhi region were available for the Games.
Defence ministry sources said that earlier it had been asked to depute around 4,000 military personnel for the Games, but no final decision had yet been taken. The Games organising committee had earlier requested the MoD for defence personnel to help with organising the mega sporting event.