WITH BARELY three weeks left for the New Delhi Commonwealth Games to begin and preparations far from complete, India’s big “coming out” party just got a little more frenzied.
Unfinished and malfunctioning sporting venues that have sprung leaks in unrelenting monsoon rains, security concerns in the face of terrorist threats from Islamist and other groups, and a virulent outbreak of dengue, malaria and conjunctivitis are collectively threatening to wreck the fortnight’s festivities opening on October 3rd.
Delhi’s hospitals are overflowing with dengue patients whose numbers passed 1,500 yesterday and many of the 71 countries participating in the games issued health warnings against visiting the city. Delhi is also threatened with floods as the Yamuna river flowing through it crossed the danger mark.
Desperate and ill-prepared civic authorities have turned to the army to deal with waterlogging and the attendant mosquito menace, which is threatening the games village with dengue fever.
Allegations of widespread corruption by the event’s organisers surface almost daily to further sabotage what an economically resurgent India had billed as a showcase event.
Alienated and hostile residents battle unbelievable traffic jams imposed by incessant games-related building activity, which have been only exacerbated over the past week by further curbs on routes dedicated to the transportation of Commonwealth officials and athletes, some 5,000 of whom begin arriving next week.
Commonwealth Games chief executive Mike Hooper said last week that some of the events may even have to be cancelled for lack of safety certificates for various stadiums and the games village from the organising committee.
“Things are surely going down to the wire,” Mr Hooper bluntly told the CNN-IBN television news channel. Even the main Nehru stadium was waterlogged frequently and tonnes of sand were being regularly poured into the running tracks as a temporary solution for what are being billed as the most expensive Commonwealth Games ever.
Officials conceded that their original infrastructure and organising budget of $2 billion had risen more than 17 times but with little to show for it as many projects to upgrade the city had been abandoned.
To make matters worse, even the popular composer A R Rehman, who won the Oscar last year for his catchy music in the blockbuster film Slumdog Millionaire is, perhaps for the first time in his impressive career, facing criticism for the “pedestrian” games theme song for which he has been paid over $1 million.
“There is nothing positive that can be said about the games as nothing has gone right even though the organisers had seven years to prepare for them,” Delhi resident Lala Virender Kapur said.
“It’s one big mess and public opinion anticipates some games-related disaster that will shame India globally as last-minute construction activity has left no time for any practice runs,” he resignedly added.
“Anything that can go wrong will,” city textile designer Rita Paul said. The games have made Delhi a living nightmare for the past 12 months that simply refuses to go away, she bemoaned.
But organising committee head Suresh Kalmadi, accused of large-scale corruption and mismanagement and possibly the most vilified person in India today, remains unfazed.
“We will organise the best games ever; even better than the Beijing Olympics,” said Mr Kalmadi, who is also an MP from the ruling Congress Party. He denies any responsibility for either the delays, slackness or corruption allegations overshadowing the games.
“I assure you with these games, Delhi will emerge as the next big sporting hub in the world,” he told incredulous reporters earlier this week.
The influential Business Standard newspaper, meanwhile, has even recommended postponing the games to avert global shame.
Countries, it declared this week, host international sporting events as a means of showcasing their abilities and sending a message to the international investing community. Sadly, Delhi’s Commonwealth Games will do neither.