Aiyar assures huge success of Commonwealth Games

New Delhi, Aug 29: Brushing aside any apprehensions about staging of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, Sports Minister Manishankar Aiyar today said preparations to make the games a huge success were well on track.With the differences between the Indian Olympic Association and the Sports Ministry deepening by the day and a lot of noises being made about the work lagging behind the schedule, Aiyar said it was the responsibility of the CWG organising committee to ensure that everything went smoothly.

"I assure you the games will be a huge success. It is the organising committees' responsibility and it would be looked after well," he told reporters at the sidelines of a function here today. "We are doing everything in scientific, systematic and well-planned way and we will have our infrastructure ready by 2009 which would be 10 months ahead of the games. Even if we exceed the deadline by a couple of months we'll be several months ahead of the games," said Aiyar, who has publicly expressed his reluctance for hosting the big events in the recent past. He said the organising committee did not want to be hasty and draw the flak later. On the sports policy issue, Aiyar said he had no idea about why IOA and the Olympic Council of Asia were making autonomy an issue and taking the government's move as interference in their functioning. "I have not received any letter from them (OCA). But I think their (IOA and the National Sports Federations') objection (to the sports policy draft) springs from the apprehensions that their autonomy is being infringed. We have already said that we will conform to the Olympic charter and its spirit but they still apprehend that their autonomy is infringed," Aiyar said. "When I have said I am not infringing upon anyone's autonomy, they say why are you infringing on our autonomy?' "We have proposed a regulatory authority because there have been disputes in the federations in which ministry had to intervene, which we do not want to. There are cases in which a the regulator and the operator are the same. BSNL or Reliance don't run the Trai and brokers don't run the Sebi," he said. "That is why we have suggested an independent statutory body," he said. Although the IOA and NSFs had boycotted the previous invitation by the government to discuss the draft, Aiyar said he was openly inviting IOA president Suresh Kalmadi for talks again. "I think having an independent statutory body is right thing to do but I may be wrong and that is why I want to discuss it sitting across the table. I am inviting Kalamdi to discuss the draft. "We have been friends for last 25 years and I see no reason for it (their equation) to change in the 26th year. Why should he not like to talk to me?" Aiyar said. Bureau Report