Dikshit hits back as Fennel backs Hooper

PTI

New Delhi, 28 September 2010: The Commonwealth Games Federation and the Delhi government were locked in a verbal duel while a blame-game started on the mess surrounding the event even as athletes continued to trickle into the much-criticised Games Village in New Delhi on Monday.

 

Both Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Organising Committee Chairman Suresh Kalmadi expressed confidence that things were being sorted out in the Village though she cannot give a time-line as to when everything would be alright. Both of them said the Village developers had not done their job properly.

 

A day after CGF CEO Mike Hooper’s criticism blaming authorities for the lack of preparations, Ms. Dikshit hit back at him. “It is really a very unkind and undiplomatic remark that has been made,” Ms. Dikshit told reporters here.

 

However, Mr. Hooper received strong backing from CGF boss Mike Fennell, who insisted that the New Zealander neither blamed the Indian government nor made any disparaging comments about India’s vast population being responsible for traffic snarls as was reported in the media.

 

Traffic jam caused by Commonwealth Games lane restriction near the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Monday.

 

“Far from any emotive commentary, Mr. Hooper merely stated the fact that the responsibility for delivering and operating the Games lies with authorities in India, as per the Host City contract,” Mr. Fennell said.

 

“What I have witnessed today is a vicious and totally unwarranted attack on Mike Hooper based on entirely false reports. “Mr. Hooper has my full support. He has always worked tirelessly for the good of the Games. Now it is time for us all to concentrate on delivering a good Games, for the athletes of the Commonwealth and the people of India,” the CGF boss added.

 

Amid the verbal war, the athletes’ arrival continued with England (61), Australia (59) and Canada (30), Scotland (77) and South Africa (113) checking in to the Games Village for the October 3 to 14 event and giving mixed feedback to the campus, which has been severely criticised for poor cleanliness in its residential towers.

 

While the Scots felt the facilities could have been better as Delhi got seven years to prepare after winning the bid, the Aussies, who were one of the most apprehensive about coming to the Indian capital, gave a thumbs up to their living area.

 

“I am not concerned at all because once people get here they will want to be a part of the Commonwealth Games experience,” Australian chef de mission Steve Moneghetti said. “I am very confident. I have seen nothing here (to disrupt the Games). The Games will be going on in full swing and the athletes will have the stage and environment to perform their best,” he added.

 

Ms. Dikshit appeared to blame the DDA, which comes under the Union Urban Affair Ministry, when she said the buildings in the Village had seepage which the DDA and the builder should have looked at before handing over. “We inherited it (the Village) in a very difficult situation. It is improving by almost the hour. We are working very hard (to make things right).”

 

“I do hope that at the end of it everything will be alright... of course there are some seepages which the builder and the DDA should have looked at earlier,” Ms. Dikshit said.

 

Asked whether the entire complex will be ready by the Wednesday deadline as set by her on Sunday, Ms. Dikshit refused to talk about the time-line and said some buildings are still wet and authorities are finding it difficult to drain out the stagnant water from the basements.

 

“I won’t give you a timeline... It depends on how dry the buildings become. How quickly the water is removed from the basements and how quickly the lifts are working,” she said.

 

The embattled OC boss Suresh Kalmadi joined the attack on the Village developers, saying, “Cleaning is not my job, it should have come clean to us when it was handed over.” Mr. Kalmadi also sought to downplay the issue of cleanliness at the Village, saying that all major problems have been sorted out and a majority of the flats were ready to be occupied.

 

“People are now happy with whatever they have got. Over a 1000 people have come now and they are very happy. Most of the athletes are happy,” Mr. Kalmadi said. “80 per cent of the flats are fine. The sun is out and everything will be fine. All the athletes are happy,” he said.

The South Africans arrived after Sunday’s drama over the ‘snake episode’ The country’s High Commissioner Harris Mbulelo Mejeke, who created a sensation by claiming that a snake was found inside his country’s residential block at the Village, had a change of heart about the facilities and said things are “unlike” what he saw during his previous visit.

 

“Everything has been addressed. They are finishing up and very soon everything would be alright. I am really hopeful that we will finally move into the Village. They (the organisers) are working very seriously,” he said.