‘Sonia, PM ‘sulking’ over CWG preparations’
New Delhi: Former Union Sports Minister Vijay Goel on Saturday alleged Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are ‘sulking’ over preparations for the Commonwealth Games (CWG) to be held here in October.
“I am totally shocked, dismayed and disappointed regarding the reticence and sulking of Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Minister about the inordinate delays and slippages in the preparations for the Commonwealth Games,” said Goel in a press statement.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) All India General Secretary said he has requested the Prime Minister to immediately call for an all party meeting to appraise everyone as to what is their strategy and plan to meet the date line of the Commonwealth Games which are only 70 days away from today and are due to start from October 3.
“As the things as stand today, the successful start and completion of the Commonwealth Games seem to be a far cry. From the very beginning many doubts have been expressed and questions asked regarding the infrastructural development, costing, inexplicable expenditures, and, now the procrastinating delays surfacing in the preparations for these games,” said Goel.
Goel further said the Commonwealth Games were assigned to India during the Prime Ministership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
“But it is a matter of great remissness that the planning for these games and the creation of infrastructure were not given any serious thought for 3-4 years. M. S. Gill the Union Minister for Sports himself has gone on record and made a statement to this effect. "This is rather disappointing,” the former minister said.
“Mike Fennel, the President of Commonwealth Games Federation, also had, with great concern, drawn Manmohan Singh’s attention to the lackadaisical approach of our Government on Commonwealth Games. It was after this ‘tick off’ that the Central Government had appointed a High Powered Committee to look into the matter.
“In spite of all this the matter remained a point of great controversy between the officials of ‘Indian Olympic Association’, the ‘Commonwealth Games Federation’ and ‘Sports Ministry’. We all wish and pray that the Commonwealth Games should go with a clock work precision and be a grand show,” Goel added.
Goel said the present Government has not taken any political party (UPA apart) into confidence either in conceptualization or in planning or in the monitoring process of the preparations for these Games.
“It would be recalled that with the letter from the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee a letter from Sonia Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition was also tabled before the Commonwealth Games Federation. This gesture of Atal Bihari Vajpayee had evinced the full support of all political parties for the Commonwealth Games in India.”
Goel said that the cost of the Games had astronomically shot up by 1500% from the initial assessment The Ministry of Tourism of UPA Government, in one of its reports, has estimated that the Commonwealth Games 2010.
While in 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games 14.63 Million USD, in CWG 2006 at Melbourne USD 1 billion while CWG 2010 in India(Delhi) it would cost approximately 18 times more than the Melbourne Games.
“It will cost Rs. 87,000 crores to our exchequer. Just to cite one example, initially only Rs.132 Crores were assessed to be spent on stadium. This has now soared to Rs. 3389 crores. Prime Minister may like to get these figures verified by his office, through any source that he may deem appropriate. It is a tragedy that in the name of speedy construction, many procedural requirements have been blatantly violated, e.g. tender and bidding system,” said Goel.
Saying there were only 70 days left for these Games to commence, Goel said the whole city of Delhi still lies totally excavated.
“ These games, to say the least, have virtually generated no employment for the Delhiites. On the contrary, many have become shelter less and many have lost all hopes of rehabilitation.
“Moreover, the money of taxpayers, in the name of Commonwealth Games, should not be spent callously and without accountability. Let corrupt officials not ‘make the hay while the Games shine’. All economic anomalies must be inquired into properly and corrective measures taken. Let the responsibility be fixed on those, who have ‘slipped’,” said Goel.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Government seems to be getting panicky with chief minister Sheila Dikshit directing all construction agencies involved in Commonwealth Games related projects to work round the clock and finish the construction work by August 31.
New Delhi: Former Union Sports Minister Vijay Goel on Saturday alleged Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are ‘sulking’ over preparations for the Commonwealth Games (CWG) to be held here in October. “I am totally shocked, dismayed and disappointed regarding the...
New Delhi: Former Union Sports Minister Vijay Goel on Saturday alleged Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are ‘sulking’ over preparations for the Commonwealth Games (CWG) to be held here in October.
“I am totally shocked, dismayed and disappointed regarding the reticence and sulking of Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Minister about the inordinate delays and slippages in the preparations for the Commonwealth Games,” said Goel in a press statement.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) All India General Secretary said he has requested the Prime Minister to immediately call for an all party meeting to appraise everyone as to what is their strategy and plan to meet the date line of the Commonwealth Games which are only 70 days away from today and are due to start from October 3.
“As the things as stand today, the successful start and completion of the Commonwealth Games seem to be a far cry. From the very beginning many doubts have been expressed and questions asked regarding the infrastructural development, costing, inexplicable expenditures, and, now the procrastinating delays surfacing in the preparations for these games,” said Goel.
Goel further said the Commonwealth Games were assigned to India during the Prime Ministership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
“But it is a matter of great remissness that the planning for these games and the creation of infrastructure were not given any serious thought for 3-4 years. M. S. Gill the Union Minister for Sports himself has gone on record and made a statement to this effect. "This is rather disappointing,” the former minister said.
“Mike Fennel, the President of Commonwealth Games Federation, also had, with great concern, drawn Manmohan Singh’s attention to the lackadaisical approach of our Government on Commonwealth Games. It was after this ‘tick off’ that the Central Government had appointed a High Powered Committee to look into the matter.
“In spite of all this the matter remained a point of great controversy between the officials of ‘Indian Olympic Association’, the ‘Commonwealth Games Federation’ and ‘Sports Ministry’. We all wish and pray that the Commonwealth Games should go with a clock work precision and be a grand show,” Goel added.
Goel said the present Government has not taken any political party (UPA apart) into confidence either in conceptualization or in planning or in the monitoring process of the preparations for these Games.
“It would be recalled that with the letter from the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee a letter from Sonia Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition was also tabled before the Commonwealth Games Federation. This gesture of Atal Bihari Vajpayee had evinced the full support of all political parties for the Commonwealth Games in India.”
Goel said that the cost of the Games had astronomically shot up by 1500% from the initial assessment The Ministry of Tourism of UPA Government, in one of its reports, has estimated that the Commonwealth Games 2010.
While in 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games 14.63 Million USD, in CWG 2006 at Melbourne USD 1 billion while CWG 2010 in India(Delhi) it would cost approximately 18 times more than the Melbourne Games.
“It will cost Rs. 87,000 crores to our exchequer. Just to cite one example, initially only Rs.132 Crores were assessed to be spent on stadium. This has now soared to Rs. 3389 crores. Prime Minister may like to get these figures verified by his office, through any source that he may deem appropriate. It is a tragedy that in the name of speedy construction, many procedural requirements have been blatantly violated, e.g. tender and bidding system,” said Goel.
Saying there were only 70 days left for these Games to commence, Goel said the whole city of Delhi still lies totally excavated.
“ These games, to say the least, have virtually generated no employment for the Delhiites. On the contrary, many have become shelter less and many have lost all hopes of rehabilitation.
“Moreover, the money of taxpayers, in the name of Commonwealth Games, should not be spent callously and without accountability. Let corrupt officials not ‘make the hay while the Games shine’. All economic anomalies must be inquired into properly and corrective measures taken. Let the responsibility be fixed on those, who have ‘slipped’,” said Goel.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Government seems to be getting panicky with chief minister Sheila Dikshit directing all construction agencies involved in Commonwealth Games related projects to work round the clock and finish the construction work by August 31.
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