CWG: Centre also culpable

It is with some degree of trepidation that we open newspaper pages these days because of what we have been reading over the last few weeks — the delays and deficiencies in the construction of infrastructure for the Commonwealth Games (CWG) in Delhi has indeed been quite alarming. One prominent English language daily reported the collapse of the over-bridge near the main CWG venue in its September 22 issue under a seven-column front-page headline, “Commonwealth Shames”. Alongside was a report about the mess that the CWG Village was, with quotes from the CWG federation that “uncleared rubb­le, faulty fixtures, filth and even ex­creta” were lying about in the Ga­mes Village. Some newspap­e­rs and TV channels in India and abroad gave graphic ev­idence of a stray dog on a bed in the Village intended for the use of participants in the Games.
While media reports in general have been quite critical of the level of preparations in the Village, more shocking was a statement by Lalit Bhanot, secretary of the CWG Organising Committee, ascribing the controversy about poor hygiene to “differing standards of hygiene in India and other countries”. Nobody in India has ever claimed that the standards of hygiene in our country are on par with those in the most advanced countries of the West. But when India made a bid for hosting the Commonwealth Games, it was with the assurance to all would-be participants that the standard of infrastructure would be quite satisfactory for all athletes and visitors.
But what is more disturbing is the fact that the Central government did not take its monitoring responsibilities seriously. It woke up after sharp criticism from the media and several participating countries about poor infrastructure at the venue.
The question as to who is responsible for the humiliating situation that the nation finds itself in because of the shabby arrangements for the CWG will be gone into by enquiry committees after the Games are over. But the impression created globally is that in spite of India’s great technological progress and financial muscle, India is still a backward Third World country that cannot be depended upon to conduct mega events like the Commonwealth Games. The main blame for this lies at the door of the Central government on whose backing CWG 2010 was awarded to India.
Even though special agencies are entrusted with the responsib­ility for providing various facilities at the Games venues, the Central government is the real host for an international event like the CWG and is expected to take all necessary precautions to ensure that the work of the organisation entrusted with the conduct of the Games is constantly monitored and that corrective steps are taken in time whenever found necessary. In this context I recall the personal interest and care which the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and senior members of her Cabinet had taken to make sure that the Asian Games, allotted to India at the request of the earlier Janata government, went off smoothly. Unfortunately, the Delhi CWG management was not monitored properly and, therefore, the Central government will find it difficult to shift the whole blame for the fiasco.
The Central government, it seems, gave all responsibilities for the CWG to a non-official committee which carried very little weight in the country or with the government. If a monitoring committee of senior and experienced persons had been set up by the government to supervise the progress of the work, the crisis we see now could have been avoided. Or, if the government had chosen to step in earlier with necessary action, as they did just two months before the Games were to commence, the damage could have been controlled effectively. When things got badly delayed or went wrong, the Central government asked the Cabinet secretary and a few other secretaries of government departments to step in and take quick corrective action. This should have been done two years earlier.
Another reason for the present fiasco is the fact that the credibility of some members of the CWG is not very high with the public and, therefore, there are several allegations of corruption in the execution of different projects. The CWG management failed to give satisfactory explanations for the high escalation in costs of some projects and, therefore, the allegations of corruption gained easy popular endorsement.
In most places where the Olympic Games have been staged, the actual expenditure has been much more than the original estimates. But, there has never been the type of criticism about corruption as we find in the case of CWG 2010. The best example of huge escalation in estimates of expenditure can be seen in the Olympics scheduled to be held in 2012 in London. In 2003, when Britain won the bid for holding the 2012 Olympics, the estimated cost was £3 billion plus £1 billion “to spruce up” the site where the main games are to be held. By 2007, the cost of getting the project ready had jumped up to £9.3 billion. However, the authorities in London explained the revised estimates with details about new factors which had to be taken into account, like screening the area from terrorists, suicide bombers et cetera. Further, the authorities responsible for the event in 2012 in London have also been preparing a scheme for proper utilisation of the infrastructure which will be built in east London for the Olympics. The people in Britain feel assured that the eastern districts of London will be a great beneficiary of 2012 Olympics.
In India, no serious thought has been given to the economic utilisation of the new infrastructure being built in Delhi and this has aggravated the severity of allegations about corruption. If the government had taken the trouble of setting up an overseeing authority, there probably would have been greater confidence among the common people that the escalation of costs was unavoidable in many cases.
One can only feel sorry for the loss of such opportunities for the government and the Organising Committee of CWG 2010 and for dragging India’s reputation through mud.

P.C. Alexander is a former governor of Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra