CGF slams Kalmadi & Co, wants written assurance on preparedness

Commonwealth Games Federation CEO Mike Hooper slammed Suresh Kalmadi for the shoddy construction at the various venues of the upcoming CW Games.

Zeenews Bureau

New Delhi: Commonwealth Games Federation CEO Mike Hooper on Monday slammed IOA president Suresh Kalmadi for the shoddy construction at the various venues of the upcoming Commonwealth Games and demanded written assurance from the builders that the loopholes will be bridged in time. All the stadiums being built for the games were supposed to be handed over to the organising committee by August 1 but several of the constructions are still nowhere near completion. The roof of the weightlifting auditorium, which was inaugurated yesterday, suffered a leakage after the heavy downpour that lashed the city. Corruption allegations in the games came to the fore after a Central Vigilance Committee report hinted at large scale irregularities in the construction of the stadiums. An inspection by the Central Vigilance Commission had found serious discrepancies like award of works at higher rates to bidders, poor quality of construction and grant of work to ineligible agencies in as many as 16 different Commonwealth Games-related construction works being carried out by various departments here. The cost of the projects have been estimated to be over Rs 2,000 crore. Six of them are being done by Public Works Department (PWD), three by Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), two each by Central Public Works Department (CPWD), Delhi Development Authority (DDA), New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and one by RITES, a Government of India Enterprise, the report said. The CVC had written a letter of complaint to CBI asking for a probe into alleged criminal conspiracy by unknown MCD officials in granting work for upgradation of street lighting in the national capital. According to the report, "Almost all the organisations executing works for Commonwealth Games have considered inadmissible factors to jack-up the reasonable price to justify award of work at quoted rates citing urgent or emergent circumstances.” “Despite higher rates, poor site management and delays and quality compromises have been observed."