[The Commonwealth Games, a quadrennial athletic competition among nations of the former British Empire, open in New Delhi on Oct. 3, and organizers are in a race to finish preparations before the opening ceremony. Sidewalks are still being laid, roads are still being paved and the final cosmetic touches are still being completed at some stadiums.]
By HEATHER TIMMONS and HARI KUMAR
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| Workers carried fertilizer for landscaping the site around a sports complex in New Delhi. |
NEW DELHI — Suresh Kalmadi, the beleaguered official overseeing India’s first major international sporting event, has a simple message for the world, but he has to raise his voice over the sound of construction so the world can hear it.
“Everything is 100 percent ready,” Mr. Kalmadi promised on a tour of Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, above the buzz of electric saws and the crackle of a welding torch as workers rushed to finish preparations at the arena. Only when pressed would Mr. Kalmadi concede that, yes, there was still a “little bit” of work left to do.
The Commonwealth Games, a quadrennial athletic competition among nations of the former British Empire, open in New Delhi on Oct. 3, and organizers are in a race to finish preparations before the opening ceremony. Sidewalks are still being laid, roads are still being paved and the final cosmetic touches are still being completed at some stadiums.
Seven years ago, when New Delhi won the right to host the Games, Mr. Kalmadi and other Indian officials said the event would highlight the nation’s strengths.
But in many ways, the opposite has happened. Preparations have been dogged by allegations of widespread corruption as well as lengthy delays and evidence of poor planning. The overall budget for the Games’ venues is expected to top $2 billion, compared with an original estimate of $210 million.
Sponsors have pulled out and the government may be facing a loss after kicking in an interest-free loan of 17 billion rupees, or $370 million, to get projects completed.
In the city’s original bid, organizers promised that all major construction of playing fields and arenas would be completed by 2007. Instead, much work did not start in earnest until 2009.
Beyond the stadiums, urban renovation expected to complement the Games — intended to make the city center more modern and tourist friendly — is so far behind schedule that it is being abandoned. Even the theme song of the Games, composed by the Oscar-winner A. R. Rahman for a $1 million fee, had to be reworked after critics said it lacked the pep of the recent World Cup anthem, Shakira’s “Waka Waka.”
“I have been living in India for 55 years, and I know the workings of the Indian government, but this I was not expecting,” said Suresh Kumar, the chairman of Premier Brands, a subsidiary of Compact Disc India.
Indian bureaucracy cannot be blamed for everything. In recent weeks, New Delhi has experienced unusually heavy monsoon rains, which have paralyzed traffic, slowed construction work and contributed to a heavier-than-usual outbreak of mosquito-borne dengue fever. When other countries began to express concerns about possible health risks for visiting athletes and spectators, India’s Ministry of Health convened a news conference to allay any fears.
But bad luck with the weather has not tempered the heavy domestic criticism focused on organizers and government officials. Instead of showcasing “India Shining,” critics say the Games have become a stark example of the government’s inability to plan and oversee large and complex projects, in the process reinforcing a long-held stereotype that things in India never get completed on time.
Mr. Kumar’s company was appointed as the official merchandiser of the Delhi event in May. Then, the company estimated it could sell $23 million in Games-related paraphernalia. But Mr. Kumar complained that organizers delayed the release of merchandise so many times that his company had revised downward projected sales to about $1.5 million — leaving Premier Brands with 30,000 vuvuzelas; more than 70,000 T-shirts; and thousands of mugs, hats and stuffed animals with the Delhi Commonwealth Games logo.
Moreover, the expected tourism bump has not yet materialized. Many hotels’ occupancy levels are far below October norms, and travel agents, taxi drivers and restaurant owners say they are concerned about slow business during the Games.
With just two weeks remaining until the Games start, it is unclear how many of the 1.7 million event tickets have been sold.
“I think we will find we have a capacity crowd — when India plays,” said Dennis Meredith, the manager of the Games’ field hockey competitions, during a tour of Dhyan Chand National Stadium.
In Connaught Place, the circular shopping area in central Delhi that has been under construction for more than a year, shopkeepers say they are angry and disillusioned. The government started digging giant tunnels there to modernize sewers and electric lines last year — but these tunnels are being hastily filled before the Games, without any improvements, they say.
“It was totally unplanned and totally misconceived,” said Jagmohan Gupta, whose family has owned a shop there since 1936.
The numerous delays mean that there will not be time for the traditional test matches to be played in the new athletic facilities. The athletes’ village, located across the Yamuna River from central Delhi, was officially opened last week. The first athletes began arriving a few days later. Rick Aylett, the catering director, said workers rushed to finish the cafeteria, doing eight months of work in only three. Up until two weeks ago, he said, he was still wondering, “Is this going to happen?”
Many critics of the event’s management, who run the gamut from social activists to sports journalists, have expressed hope that the Games prompt some introspection among officials.
“We really need to learn how to plan,” said Vrinda Walavalkar, a public relations executive who is not connected to the Games.
“Maybe we feel we have so many lifetimes to achieve things” that it does not matter if it gets done this time, she said.
Mr. Gupta, the shopkeeper, found a metaphor in Hindu wedding tradition.
The groom’s party, known as the barat, traditionally marches to the bride’s house on horseback with his friends and family, he explained. When the barat appears, the bride has to come to the door, he said.
“If the bride is not ready, you patch her up and try to hide all her defects,” Mr. Gupta said, and then you send her outside.
TAIWANESE TOURISTS SHOT IN NEW DELHI
By JIM YARDLEY and HARI KUMAR
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| A man removed rickshaws near the scene of a shooting outside the main mosque in the old quarters of New Delhi, India. |
“It is difficult to say what the motive is,” Karnail Singh, the New Delhi joint police commissioner, told reporters.
The target as well as the timing immediately raised questions about whether the shooting was a deliberate terrorist attack. Security is a paramount concern for the Games, which open Oct. 3 and are expected to bring thousands of athletes and spectators to New Delhi for the sports competition among nations of the former British empire.
Various media organizations published a letter in Hindi purporting to be from the Indian Mujahedeen and claiming responsibility for the attack. The Indian government considers the group to be a terrorist organization. It is unclear which news organizations received the original communication, which also threatened the Games, and by late evening there were questions and skepticism about what connection the letter might have to the actual attack.
On Sunday, Sheila Dikshit, the chief minister of New Delhi, sought to calm fears about the attack, urging the public not to panic and repeating that the police had initiated a major investigation into the shooting. “It is not correct to write or assume that this is a terror attack,” Ms. Dikshit said on NDTV, a 24-hour news channel in New Delhi.
Commonwealth Games organizers said in a statement on Sunday that the shooting would have “no impact” on the Games. Officials “have made elaborate arrangements to provide the Commonwealth Games athletes and officials a safe and secure environment,” it said.
The two injured Taiwanese tourists were undergoing surgery in a New Delhi hospital on Sunday. Dr. Amit Banerjee, of Lok Narayan Jay Prakash Hospital, said that the tourists had suffered abdominal injuries.
The Jama Masjid is one of India’s largest mosques and is located in the old part of the city, across from the historic Red Fort. Built in the 17th century, the mosque attracts thousands of Muslims for Friday Prayer. In 2006, it was attacked by two low-intensity blasts that injured more than a dozen people. The mosque itself was not damaged.
The New York Times
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