Saving Commonwealth Games-2010!

New Year Should Bring Hope!

2010-01-02T12:04:00.002+05:30

Things have changed little over time and since my last post, where I mentioned slow pace of work, there is hardly anything new to say. Now, if you are reading at least one national daily, you would know how poorly the works on CWG-2010 venues is going on. And I am sure, Sheila Dixit, Delhi CM, must be feeling nervous these days over the issue.

This ToI report publishes the same old story mentioning little progress. Work at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, where inaugural ceremony will be held, is behind schedule and as per India's Sports Minister, the stadium will be ready in June only. Horrible start of New Year-2010.

Another major issue for 'Delhiwallas' is long traffic gridlocks at major junctions and poor public transport system. Though in coming year, till Oct-2010 ( CWG-2010 Time), Delhi Metro is about to reach every corner of the Delhi-NCR region with major routes operational, there are no other positive signs on public transport front. In fact, PWD department could only finish 12 out 24 flyovers especially being constructed for CWG-2010 till date. PWD, it's Race against time!

Now same story goes with low floor buses, recently bought to replace old Blueline buses. With recent incidents of low floor buses catching fires on frequent basis, Delhi Transport department is still investigating the cause of fire. These fire incident compelled Delhi Transport to take some 600+ buses off the road and run transport system on some 900 low floor buses. We are just hoping for some positive outcome on this transport issue.

In my last post, where I mentioned the deployment of enhanced security equipments for CWG-2010, the OG is still under process of procuring the equipments. When shall they train the personnel on these new security gadgets? Security will remain a big concern during games and given India's poor track record over managing security, there is more suspicion than confidence.

Some other concerns over quality of Air during games period should have been addressed by this time. But the IITM, Pune's Air pollution forecasting equipment could only start functioning in next couple of months. No other way out!

Though, there's no word on progress of work at other venues, CWD-2010 OG and Delhi government has taken matter very lightly in last couple of months, or at least this blogging platform feels so. While I prepare to write reports on CWG-2010 progress, I have little confidence in system and more anger towards the people, who are actually managing things and sitting at helm. Can Mr. Kalmadi, come forward and clear the air surrounding the CWG-2010 preparation? We are desperately seeking some clarity and please OG instill some faith, as there's little progress over time!

We fear this CWG-2010's games progress may become thorn in flesh of India's claims over arranging Olympics in next decade. But we can either be critical or non-critical. No sympathy for OG for manhandling the issues!

Boosting Games Security!

2009-11-04T09:19:00.003+05:30

After recent comments by Dr. Manmohan Singh, PM of India, that terrorists are planning a major assault on Indian territory, Games officials are busy these days thwarting such threats during forthcoming CWG. Perhaps, no other aspect of Games may be termed as important as security and officials are wary about threats to security or at least they are doing a bit more to ensure safe Games for visitors.

According to report by Express Newsline, Organizing Committee is busy working on ticketing system, where every ticket will carry a barcode, which will have information including stand and the seat and Delhi police will have the photograph of each person watching games along with their exact location. The report also adds that, when spectator enters the stands, security cameras will record his photo, which will be then stored along with the information in the barcode ticket. And this information, including the photo and seat number will be sent to Delhi police database, which will help police in identifying the people quickly. This will also ensure that no person with criminal background will slip in the stands, as barcode will contain the photograph of the person entering the stadium.

Though this type of ticketing system is used earlier in Beijing Olympics, there are some glitches in it. The major one is the slow processing of photo & information simultaneslously in barcode, which leads to long queues at entry point. So in that case we could have more entry points to avoid excessive delays, but still police aren't sure of how many. Certainly a dry run of such system will help them in understanding the pros & cons of system to be deployed. One major reason Delhi police are relying on barcode ticketing system despite few glitches is they appear foolproof, or at least we can say so after their successful demonstration in recent Olympics Games.

The OC, is still unsure of how these tickets will be given to spectators, as anyone could buy ticket online. But to get the barcode ticket he/she will either have to exchange the e-ticket with barcode ticket at specified counters or OC is also mulling over the option of courier it to spectator.

Still, we have got ample time to measure the threats to such an important event and certainly the barcode ticketing system is welcome step in right direction. We hope Delhi Police and OC won't leave any stone unturned, as security concerns are need to be addressed in proper manner with right safety measures. Discussion is still on about this!

What's Wrong With Games?

2009-10-16T22:54:00.006+05:30

After watching a heated debate on NDTV 24x7 sometime back, I am damn sure that there's no future of CWG-2010; unless we unite. And what you get to see around is sorry state of affair, an ugly spat between OC and CGF Committee CEO, which will lead us nowhere.

I am really surprised the way things are handled by OC and its chairman Mr. Kalmadi. First of all, going back to the debate on NDTV, where ex-Sports Minister of India Mr. Mani Iyer proclaimed that there is no pride of nation associated with the organizing CWG and what Mr. Vajpayee, the former PM of India did was wrong, by bringing CWG to India. Instead he wants to eradicate the malnutrition issue in India and was carping about HRD Index number etc. Why Mr. Iyer? Why? Why digging the old ghosts? Why go back and find mistakes? Why to politicize everything possible in every possible manner, even CWG?

And now after the recent visit of delegates, Mr.Kalmadi, who wasn't very happy with the idea proposed by Mr. Mike Fennell to setup an independent committee to monitor games progress, turned on his heat on another fellow Mr. Hooper, who is supposedly the CEO of CGF. The point he raised was Mr. Hooper's presence, which is obstructing the Game's work and eating up taxpayers money too. Let's not go in the exchanges of remarks, but to focus on core issue. What's going on? Why are we talking about expenses of Mr. Hooper's stay in India? Will it help us now? There's certainly something wrong between CGF & OC and rift is getting wider and wider. This has become obvious after recent visit of delegates to India, which gave rise to enough speculations that there’s lack of trust between CGF & OC.

It's still possible to organize the good Games, I do believe. And as said earlier, there's no point it stirring controversies unnecessarily. Please Mr.Kalmadi and OC, don't do it. It's going to hamper the prospect of Games, which is already being delayed. Time is our enemy now. Let's unite and work towards the completion of construction work at different venues first and not to worry about who said what or should we organize such games etc. There's no point in discussing the babble. I hope, we do understand the importance of it and certainly as a citizen of this great nation, will always hope that we can still do it. Not somehow, but in best possible manner.

Visit Over...Now What's Next?

2009-10-10T23:31:00.004+05:30

Now, much hyped visit of CWG-2010, General Assembly delegates is over. Certainly, we got good media coverage on the visit. Some of the delegates were happy, others concerned. Like, Mr. Pipe, the President of Canadian Commonwealth Games Association, who expressed displeasure about the work carried, also praised the work at Games Village work. He has his own reasons to show displeasure, but some of the comments made by him could be justified too.

Also, the delegate Mr. Penn from British Virgin Island expressed the concerns saying "lots need to be done on work front". But the real surprise came from the organizing committee general secretary Mr. Bhanot, who in a media conference expressed the remarks that "delegates were satisfied with the work carried out". And after going through few media excerpt yesterday, I was surprised that Mike Fennell didn't comment anything on the visit. It seems that, on his behalf, Mr. Bhanot expressed the satisfaction about the work.

Also our Honorable Chairman, Mr. Suresh Kalmadi remained absent on the day of visit, citing the reason of work about impending Assembly Elections in his home state, Maharashtra. In a statement issued, he welcomed all feedback by delegates and asked the OC, to take criticism constructively. Good show Politicians! Not even Delhi CM dropped in to accompany the delegates. In India, politics is excuse for everything and sad thing is that, no one questions the authority (Are we really bothered about it?).

Real Test to Begin Soon!

2009-10-06T23:58:00.002+05:30

The General Assembly for Games will take off from Oct 8 and since Monday various Commonwealth Games Associations (CGAs) started arriving in the city, the tough task for OC lies ahead. The general assembly will have CGAs of all 71 participating countries who will take an overview of the preparedness of Delhi for next year Games. Besides venue visits (Crucial- 8th & 9th Oct and General Assembly meet on 11th & 12th), the CGAs will also attend the business meetings along with briefing about security arrangements for the Games.

What about the letter of Mike Fennell leak? Certainly, the letter must have sent wrong signals and there lies an uphill task in hands of organizing committee to correct the impression. Later, we came to know that the pace of work at various venues has been upgraded and workers are working in double shifts to make up lost time, if any.

In meantime, CWG-2010 has officially tied up with Air-India, as official partner of CWG-2010. Also Organizing committee had announced that Hotel Ashoka at Chanakyapuri will be the official hospitality partner for the Games.

Wishing Good Luck to OC & Of Course Volunteers for the crucial task!

Games Village Work on Track!

2009-10-05T00:52:00.000+05:30

The good news is rare from CWG-2010 front and if it's coming from construction site, then that's something we are always looking forward to. In Sunday Express, Ayesha Arvind reported that, after seeking financial bailout from GoI, Emaar MGF, the builder of CWG-2010 Games Village (Includes a stadium and 1168 flats for delegates and athletes) claimed that the 34 towers will be ready for use by Mar-10.

The interesting part of story comes in the same report, which says that the number of workers employed on site have gone up to 8000 from previous low of 1500. So Emaar is trying to make up the time lost. The main facilitator, Ahluwalia Contracts India Ltd also claimed that all structures will be ready by Jan-10 and finishing work is being done now, which requires highly skilled workers and is also time consuming.

According to Emaar MGF spokesperson, one tower will be ready for trial run by this month (Tower 9). The Commonwealth Residential Complex built by Emaar MGF, a joint venture between Dubai based Emaar properties and India's MGF Development Ltd, consists of 34 towers and booking for two, three, five bedroom flat is already open. The project area for Games complex is over 118 acres, near Akshardham Temple in East Delhi.

Time Short, Bring Experts!

2009-10-03T14:50:00.000+05:30

Honorable Mike Fennell, head of Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) yesterday remarked that, there are “enormous” challenges facing the event and urges the New Delhi Organizers on Friday to hire experts to expedite the progress. He was speaking at countdown ceremony for Oct 3-14, 2010 Games, and wants personnel having necessary experience on board to carry out the Games work.

Fennell also added that, these personnel with Games experience must be appointed in management, planning and operation roles including transportation, technology, ticketing and logistics. He still believes that one year is enough time to deliver the promise, provided we bring some experts with Games planning, in operations to carry out the work.

If that was the case then, why wouldn't Delhi Organizers listening to him? Why can't we bring some experts on panel to carry out specific work related to Games? Or are we relying on our Asian Games-1982 expertise in carrying out operations? Certainly, we believe that bringing Games experts would improve and expedite the progress at work. And as said countdown for Games is already begun; time is short- Act Wisely Organizers!

Venue Map!

2009-10-03T01:09:00.002+05:30

Above is the Map of Venues, of CWG-2010, 11 of them, where Games are going to be held. Let's track the progress of work at each of the above sites in coming months.

Why should I be bothered?

2009-10-03T00:00:00.000+05:30

The event of Commonwealth Games-2010, which is going to be held at New Delhi during month of Oct-2010 is perhaps one such sports event, which should have been taken seriously by our nation. But then it's not happening. And we all are hardly aware of it.

Recently I came across a news report on NDTV & in Times of India, which says that only 40% of the work is complete and many of the Games venues are going to miss the deadline of the events. Why is it happening? Are we people concerned about it? Being a common man, should I be taking pride in talking about the lagging work at many sites?

But then this portal isn't going to carp only. After all it's the matter of pride of our great nation. Let's join hands and support me in saving CommonwealthGames-2010. Are you with me?