OC fails to generate expected revenue from CWG

New Delhi: Sports Minister M S Gill on Tuesday informed the Lok Sabha that the Organising Committee (OC) of

the Commonwealth Games has failed to generate the expected revenue from the event. After spending a huge amount of taxpayers` money, the OC failed to achieve the target revenue of Rs 1708 crore from the October 3-14 event. "An amount of Rs 1708 crore was expected to be generated through revenue by the Organising Committee but it could not be achieved," Gill admitted while giving accounts of the revenues generated by ticket sales, sponsorship and advertising. "There were no earnings from advertisements as such. From the sale of tickets, OC earned 39.17 crore. From sponsorship amount, Rs 114.15 crore was received against the contracted value of Rs 375.05 crore and from international TV rights, Rs 173.71 crore was received against the contracted value of Rs 213.45 crore," Gill told the House. Asked to reveal the details of the total amount of funds spent and the sources from which the funds were mobilised and obtained including those from external agencies for conducting the Games, Gill said, "an amount of Rs 1669.42 crore was given by the government of India to the OC as loan for the organisation of the Games, against the total approved amount of Rs 1813.42 crore. "In addition, Rs 687 crore was given for Overlays (temporary fittings and fixtures) and Rs 87 crore as grant for Timing, Scoring and Result System (TSR) had also been approved as a loan to the OC. Out of the above, Rs 557.40 crore has been released for Overlays and Rs 81 crore for TSR and Sports Equipment," the sports minister added. Gill also said the funds from the external agencies had been received in respect of sale tickets and sale of international TV rights. "From the TV rights, USD 37,764,101 (equivalent to Rs 173.71 crore) has been received till date which does not include USD 5.05 million (Rs 23.23 crore) withheld as Tax deducted at source from the payments of Network Ten in Australia," the minister said. PTI