Govt ready for 'best-ever' Commonwealth Games

Union Urban Development Minister S Jaipal Reddy told the House that the government would probe the allegations of corruptions after the CWG and would “pursue the guilty to the end of the earth” to punish them. He called upon all “to rise above the party line and cooperate with the government to make the Games successful, if not spectacular.”

Intervening in a discussion in the Lok Sabha on the irregularities in preparation for the CWG, Reddy sought to put the record straight and said the government had spent only Rs 2,8054 crore for the CWG.

He rubbished the Opposition’s claim that the government had spent a huge sum of money––some put it as Rs 55,000 crore, while others pegged it at Rs 1,00,000 crore.
Opposition MPs like Kirti Azad of the BJP, Akhilesh Yadav of SP and Sharad Yadav of the JD(U) lambasted the government over alleged corruption, poor quality of construction works and delay in executing projects. 

Seeking to blunt the BJP and other Opposition parties’ offensives against the government over huge spending for the CWG, Reddy said it was the NDA government in 2003 which took the decision to host the Games. He said the Union Government had spent Rs 1,1494 crore for the CWG, including Rs 2,934 crore for sports infrastructure and Rs 678 crore for training. The government had given a loan of Rs 2,394 crore to the Organising Committee.

The minister said the Centre had separately given Rs 16,560 crore to the Delhi government, which spent only Rs 670 crore directly for the CWG and the rest for development of permanent infrastructure, which would ultimately benefit common citizens and remain as a legacy long after the CWG would be over.

Reddy said if the Opposition MPs visit the Games Village, they would be proud of it.

Kalmadi mum

New Delhi, dhns: Congress MP Suresh Kalmadi  who heads the CWG Organising Committee sat silently as the ruling members countered the opposition’s offensive. “They say Shera is the official mascot of the CWG. But it seems Kalmadi himself and not Shera is the mascot of the Games. He is there everywhere,” said the JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav. The CWG OC chief, however, just smiled; but kept mum.