New Delhi, Sept. 24: A day which started with the arrival of the first batch of English athletes for the CWG brought more good news for the beleaguered Organising Committee as Australia, New Zealand and Canada all confirmed participation in the October 3 to 14 event on Friday after a large-scale clean-up operation by the Delhi government to improve conditions at the Games Village.
The English athletes who arrived on Friday, however, preferred to stay at five-star hotels and wait for their accommodation at the Village to be cleaned and made ready to move in.
The Delhi Chief Minister, Ms Sheila Dikshit, was at the Games Village on Friday to ensure things got back on track and was sufficiently pleased with the progress. “The situation is much better now... the workers will work throughout the night and make sure everything happens on time,” she said. “The residential towers are much cleaner now after professional people started looking after the housekeeping,” she added.
The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) president, Mr Michael Fennell, met the cabinet secretary, Mr K.M. Chandrashekar. In the hour-long meeting at the Cabinet Secretariat, the officials took stock of preparations. Mr Fennell is understood to have discussed the concerns of various participating countries about sanitation and other problems. Sources said he had been told there was nothing to worry about as everything would be in place.
“It is good to be in Delhi, and the briefing I received from my CEO, Mike Hooper, last night, was that considerable improvements have been made within the Village, with further significant resources deployed by Ms Dikshit, to make good what was a concerning situation,” Fennell said in a statement.