Call it the Common Stealth Games
The stink around the Commonwealth Games has been getting stronger and stronger. From the total disruption of public life to, now, the wanton corruption around most projects and the smuggling of public wealth into private pockets — it has been an ugly run-up to the event which, come to think about it, will not benefit anyone — at least not legally.
While one can waste reams and reams of paper listing the reasons why the Games are unnecessary, fact is that had the job of organising this mega event been done earnestly and honestly, it would not have been half as bad as it looks now.
Of course, all the construction muck lying around the still to be finished areas around most stadia built for the Games will be cleared or patched up before the event is flagged off at the JN Stadium on October 3 so that’s not what we should spend our thoughts on. What we should really think about seriously is how the very existence, not to mention the welfare of the common man and the Delhi citizen, has been totally negated in the Government’s race to serenade India as an infrastructural show-stopper on a global platform.
Is spending Rs 35,000 crore public money worth it for such a national pride of place? Not when everyone from the rich to the not-so-rich to the downright poor is reeling alike under inflation. Not when the prices have become so high that every commodity has become singularly unaffordable. And certainly not when in organising the Games, Delhi and its citizenry has been ripped apart — the city by the sheer magnitude of unending construction and its people by the fallout of this so-called infrastructure build-up.
Let’s take a reality check here: Even if we Indians stand apart from the rest of the world and are known for the 11th hour scramble of completing all work projects, what has been happening with the building plans around the 2010 Games has been nothing less than awful even if one were to be a conservative critic.
Commuting hours on Delhi’s undone roads have increased like Jack’s beanstalk and there is no one in the Government who is even looking at the problem even cursorily. From 25 minutes, the traveling time has risen to more than an hour on any given day at any given time.
Constant jams on all roads have doubled fuel consumption and we all know how the Government has topped that up with inordinate and frequent petrol price hikes. Road rage has become common and people now prefer to stay home on leave rather than risk Delhi’s waterlogged roads to reach office on a rainy day. Electrocutions due to undone power cables have become common in the Capital and Delhi is all but breathing its last under such wayward development activity.
This may sound very personal but an umbrella look at the scenario will not come up with any better a verdict. Let’s face it, this is not the Olympics. These are the Commonwealth Games which have not even one-fourth of the nations in the world comity that will be coming for the sports show. Add to that the fact that the Commonwealth event is not counted as points to enter the Olympics and so most of the high performers don’t feel the need to attend it.
Even in that, known names like the fastest man on Earth Usain Bolt, renowned cyclist Chris Hoy and 100 metre dasher Shelly Ann Frazer will not be coming and despite what Kalmadi may insist, the attending nations’ list is still recording hesitance in coming to India.
This means that the Games themselves may be the biggest anti-climax that our nation would be seeing in recent memory as far as the sports show is concerned. Even Sports Minister MS Gill has expressed disappointment about the high-profile dropouts and petitioned Commonwealth Federation chief Michael Fennel to somehow ensure robust participation. And if this anti-climax comes at a cost of Rs 35,000 crore, a huge chunk of it reportedly going into corrupt pockets, then it is nothing less than treason against India.
Compare this to Beijing where the trial runs for the Olympics started one-and-a-half years before the Beijing Games. The China showcase was awesome and India, as other nations of the world, has admitted it can’t match its glitz and glamour. Even if we leave China behind, there’s London coming up. For the 2012 Olympics, already its athletes have the stadium facilities ready to practice, unlike India where the question of sending players to venue practice has not even been discussed as of now and it will be quite a relief if the projects are safely put into use for the Games themselves.
In London, people are already being trained how to behave, walk or cross the roads during the Olympics which are two years away! Already the London traffic police has been fining people who enter the lanes earmarked for the Olympic athletes to use for commuting! That’s called organisation.
While one can waste reams and reams of paper listing the reasons why the Games are unnecessary, fact is that had the job of organising this mega event been done earnestly and honestly, it would not have been half as bad as it looks now.
Of course, all the construction muck lying around the still to be finished areas around most stadia built for the Games will be cleared or patched up before the event is flagged off at the JN Stadium on October 3 so that’s not what we should spend our thoughts on. What we should really think about seriously is how the very existence, not to mention the welfare of the common man and the Delhi citizen, has been totally negated in the Government’s race to serenade India as an infrastructural show-stopper on a global platform.
Is spending Rs 35,000 crore public money worth it for such a national pride of place? Not when everyone from the rich to the not-so-rich to the downright poor is reeling alike under inflation. Not when the prices have become so high that every commodity has become singularly unaffordable. And certainly not when in organising the Games, Delhi and its citizenry has been ripped apart — the city by the sheer magnitude of unending construction and its people by the fallout of this so-called infrastructure build-up.
Let’s take a reality check here: Even if we Indians stand apart from the rest of the world and are known for the 11th hour scramble of completing all work projects, what has been happening with the building plans around the 2010 Games has been nothing less than awful even if one were to be a conservative critic.
Commuting hours on Delhi’s undone roads have increased like Jack’s beanstalk and there is no one in the Government who is even looking at the problem even cursorily. From 25 minutes, the traveling time has risen to more than an hour on any given day at any given time.
Constant jams on all roads have doubled fuel consumption and we all know how the Government has topped that up with inordinate and frequent petrol price hikes. Road rage has become common and people now prefer to stay home on leave rather than risk Delhi’s waterlogged roads to reach office on a rainy day. Electrocutions due to undone power cables have become common in the Capital and Delhi is all but breathing its last under such wayward development activity.
This may sound very personal but an umbrella look at the scenario will not come up with any better a verdict. Let’s face it, this is not the Olympics. These are the Commonwealth Games which have not even one-fourth of the nations in the world comity that will be coming for the sports show. Add to that the fact that the Commonwealth event is not counted as points to enter the Olympics and so most of the high performers don’t feel the need to attend it.
Even in that, known names like the fastest man on Earth Usain Bolt, renowned cyclist Chris Hoy and 100 metre dasher Shelly Ann Frazer will not be coming and despite what Kalmadi may insist, the attending nations’ list is still recording hesitance in coming to India.
This means that the Games themselves may be the biggest anti-climax that our nation would be seeing in recent memory as far as the sports show is concerned. Even Sports Minister MS Gill has expressed disappointment about the high-profile dropouts and petitioned Commonwealth Federation chief Michael Fennel to somehow ensure robust participation. And if this anti-climax comes at a cost of Rs 35,000 crore, a huge chunk of it reportedly going into corrupt pockets, then it is nothing less than treason against India.
Compare this to Beijing where the trial runs for the Olympics started one-and-a-half years before the Beijing Games. The China showcase was awesome and India, as other nations of the world, has admitted it can’t match its glitz and glamour. Even if we leave China behind, there’s London coming up. For the 2012 Olympics, already its athletes have the stadium facilities ready to practice, unlike India where the question of sending players to venue practice has not even been discussed as of now and it will be quite a relief if the projects are safely put into use for the Games themselves.
In London, people are already being trained how to behave, walk or cross the roads during the Olympics which are two years away! Already the London traffic police has been fining people who enter the lanes earmarked for the Olympic athletes to use for commuting! That’s called organisation.
Source: Sunday Pioneer, August 1, 2010
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