THE NEW DELHI COMMONWEALTH GAMES STARTS OCTOBER 3, 2010.
Here's a picture of the state of things just last month...
Posted on 09/21/2010 10:07:00 AM PDT by WebFocus
The ill-fated Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, just 12 days away, has suffered another major setback after a footbridge near the event's main stadium collapsed, injuring at least 23 labourers, five of them seriously.
Senior police official H S Dhaliwal said the steel arch supporting the 164-foot long foot-bridge collapsed outside the Nehru Stadium which is to host the opening and closing ceremonies and athletic events of India’s fortnight-long showpiece event beginning on Oct 3.
The bridge, linking the car and bus parking lot to the stadium but now a mass of mangled steel, was to have transported thousands of athletes, officials and spectators to the main Games venue.
Rakesh Mishra, the Commonwealth Games’ chief engineer, said a loose pin on the bridge’s steel structure had given way whilst "concreting" of the road beneath was in progress.
He said an inquiry has been ordered into the accident which he admitted was a "setback" but claimed the damage would be rectified "soon".
Mishra also dismissed speculation that the continuous monsoon downpour over the past two days was responsible for the accident.
Preparations for the Games that end on Oct 14 are down to the wire and the event risks descending into farce with large scale construction work on various sporting venues still under way.
In an emergency move the Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrashekhar has now been put in charge to complete the Games’ preparations.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
This does not bode well. I hope nothing collapses and people get hurt or killed.
looks like quality work....
India has barely two weeks before the 50 nation game begins.
Don’t know if they’ll be ready...
Might as well hold the opening ceremonies on the streets of Delhi.
ummmm Thats new work??? Looks like something from outside of Chernobyl in Russia. Wasting away many years later.
The Olympic stadium in Beijing is already falling apart, just a few years after the games ended.
OMG. They’ll never finish in time. Those pictures are incredible.
RE: OMG. They’ll never finish in time.
You don’t say... might as well cancel the games and just lead the players and sportscaster on a tour of India instead.
I am not even sure if any international games of the magnitude of the Commonwealth games or the Olympics for that matter have ever made a profit for the host country in the past 25 years....
How is South Africa doing financially after the recent World Cup?
LOL.
You raise an interesting point though. Montreal's Olympic stadium was a financial disaster.
Yeah, but at least the Chinese built everything a year ahead of the Olympics and pulled them off superbly.
These Commonwealth Games have obviously turned into a disaster, bringing down to reality all the pablum about India being a Global Power, and Brand India and all that jazz.
On the bright side, the kickbacks, payoffs and bribes have certainly enriched a whole bunch of the organizers and officials, not only Indians but other citizens of the CommonWealth countries.
The defenders of the games were saying somehow they’ll pull it off, much like some gargantuan Monsoon Wedding where chaos magically disappears and all events occur without a hitch.
This isn’t gonna happen here; when the roof of a major venue leaked, the best rationalization I heard was, “Don’t worry, it never rains in Delhi in October, the Monsoon is over by then”.
Jihadis are the least of the athletes worries!
What could possibly go wrong?
LOL!
Also, nothing like seeing a guy welding without protective eyewear.
And there also seems to have been an outbreak of dengue fever due to lots of stagnant water generating swarms of skeeters.
Brand India’s lookin’ a little tattered.
The only way to make the Indian Bureaucracy wake up may be for the athletes to just announce a boycott and refuse to participate and go home.
Major eggonface syndrome may help negate the mentality that has led to this pending embarrassment and potential disaster.
Doesn’t look like you “got” the picture. The guy is on a METAL ladder, which is IN WATER, and he’s messing with electricity. Unreal!! Who cares about “eyewear”, which I believe he has on. Looks like he’s got something on over his eyes, from what I can see.
>Doesn’t look like you “got” the picture.
No, what’s the big deal standing on an aluminum ladder in a pool using a metal tool barefoot?
>Who cares about “eyewear”,
Not him, but at least he’s not welding anything.
Some athletes are now WITHDRAWING from the games after knowing the state of things...
See here :
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,27739997-23218,00.html
Dani Samuels says Commonwealth Games gold medal in Delhi ‘not worth my life’
By Nick Walshaw
September 22, 2010
World discus champion Dani Samuels has explained her decision to withdraw from Australia’s team for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, saying no gold medal “is worth risking my life”.
Samuels said that increased terrorism threats had “frightened” her out of the Delhi Games, set to begin in 11 days.
Samuels, who is 22 and the face of the Australian athletics team, made the decision about midday on Tuesday - when her national tracksuit arrived by courier and she felt too ill to open it.
“Just the thought of travelling to New Delhi, it frightens me,” Samuels said.
“For a couple of weeks, I’ve struggled to sleep, felt ill, haven’t been able to train properly.
“And the closer the deadline gets, the scarier the situation has become. So I’ve decided it’s not worth the risk ... I just can’t bring myself to go.”
Samuels is the first Australian athlete to withdraw officially from the Games. She said that she was seriously shaken up by weekend reports of gunmen firing on a tourist bus with semi-automatic weapons.
“We’re not talking about an event that’s a year away any more,” she said.
CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE REST
I don’t think the Commonwealth Games has a prayer of continuing.
SEE HERE :
World heaps scorn on filthy Village
Rumu Banerjee & Ashis Ray, TNN, Sep 22, 2010, 12.47am IST
NEW DELHI/LONDON:
A day after TOI stunned the country with the news that with just 36 hours for the athletes to arrive, the visiting Commonwealth delegates have objected to “unlivable conditions” in the Games Village, the protests have only piled up with several countries protesting against the “filthy” and “disgusting” apartments that were being provided to the international athletes.
As the stink grew and the crap hit the ceiling, the people behind the preparation of the Games — Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit, OC boss Suresh Kalmadi, central ministers Jaipal Reddy and M S Gill — either ducked the media or proffered ridiculous excuses in order to explain away their incompetence and worse which were shaming the entire country.
Meanwhile, international pressure mounted, threatening the future of the Games. There was a spate of pullouts by high-profile athletes, including world woman discus champion Dani Samuels of Australia; 10,000m world champ Linet Masai of Kenya, 400m Olympic champion Christene Ohuruogo of Britain and 1,500m Olympic champion Asbel Kiprop of Kenya. The world media was headlining the Games mess, only to amplify India’s disgrace.
As countries raised the alarm over the filthy mess at the Games, Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) chief Michael Fennell dashed off a letter to the Union cabinet secretary asking for immediate action while Fennell’s man in Delhi, Mike Hooper, said he was “extremely disappointed”, adding that the conditions of the apartments made them “uninhabitable”.
New Zealand PM John Key said there was no point sending a contingent if “they end up feeling like I currently feel”. Team Scotland issued a statement saying, “We will continue to monitor the situation before determining our next response... We sincerely hope that the outstanding issues can be resolved, however we will not compromise on issues of health, safety and security.”
Dramatically bringing out the urgency of the situation and a near hopeless race to meet the deadline, Kiwi chef de mission Dave Currie said it was “only two seconds to midnight”, and yet the Village residential zone was far from finished. Stagnant water around the Village and related health issues were weighing on the New Zealand team’s mind, he said.
With disgrace staring India in the face, news came in that China had finished all work and handed over the athletes’ village to the Asian Games Federation for the Asiad that will start only in November. The contrast only drove home India’s collosal incompetence and shame.
Far from being serious about the lapse, let alone being contrite, OC spokesman Lalit Bhanot nonchalantly said sanitary standards were “subjective” and cleanliness wasn’t really a “major” issue to be ashamed of, implying that Indian standards of hygiene were poor and, as a country, we were prepared to live with that.
The Union government, including the PMO, which too have been guilty of not reacting to widespread reports of mismanagement and the potential of an impending national disgrace, reacted to the latest embarrassment by summoning Delhi’s lieutenant-governor to the PMO. Thereafter, the L-G rushed to inspect the site, as did the cabinet secretary, the principal secretary to the PM and the Delhi chief secretary, among others, possibly too late to do anything for the mess.
The silver lining, if it may be called that, was that Commonwealth countries, although disgusted, still seemed committed to participating in the Games, even if, like New Zealand, they were taking matters into their own hands. The Kiwis reportedly asked its high commission to send over a cleaning service company to get the job done in the Village, while the Scottish delegates actually cleaned all the rooms allotted to the Scottish contingent themselves with the help of volunteers.
Said Scotland’s chef de mission Jon Doig, “Despite repeated promises, only slow progress has been made, to the extent that there are now grave concerns as to whether the Village as a whole will meet the health and safety standards required to host all 71 CGAs and their 6,500 team members, which are due to start arriving on September 23.”
England, which was earlier said to be satisfied with its accommodation, issued a statement saying that the toilets were disgusting. It also listed “unsafe electrical equipment, plumbing issues, doors not fitting properly and mud everywhere”.
A furious Fennell wrote to the cabinet secretary, terming the condition of the residential zone as “shocking”, and added that “significant operational matters remain unaddressed”. Added Fennell, “The problems are arising because deadlines for the completion of the Village have been consistently pushed out.”
In fact, the threat to pull out of the Delhi Games 2010 is no longer merely conjecture. While Fennell said that he will be coming at the “earliest opportunity” to assess the situation and inform the other CGAs about Delhi Games preparedness, Team Scotland went a bit further, saying, “We will continue to monitor the situation before determining our next response. At this point we are planning for full participation in the Games and sincerely hope that the outstanding issues can be resolved, however we will not compromise on issues of health, safety and security.”
Sources said that the teams had already petitioned the CGF to make a “realistic” decision as to what point and under what conditions the Federation would determine whether the Games will go ahead or not.
Well, she’s not withdrawing because of the facilities but because she’s scared of the jihadis.
>she felt too ill to open it.
Delhi Belly strikes again.
>OC spokesman Lalit Bhanot nonchalantly said sanitary standards were “subjective” and cleanliness wasn’t really a “major” issue to be ashamed of, implying that Indian standards of hygiene were poor and, as a country, we were prepared to live with that.
LOLOL! The finest face of India on display.
What’s he care, he’s got his cut.
The Organizers deserve the disgrace.
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