NEW DELHI: The government’s first big challenge in building infrastructure was to find the land for the Commonwealth Games Village that would accommodate over 8,000 athletes and officials come October 2010. The eventual choice, the banks of Yamuna river near Akshardham Temple in east Delhi, raised protests from the environmentalists. Contending that constructing the huge structure on 59 hectares of land so close to the river would have a direct and telling impact on the environment, they moved the Delhi High Court to have the project stopped. Due to this, the construction started as late as April 2007 and now the project is running much behind time to meet the March 2010 deadline. 
Although the court has, as of now, not stopped the ongoing construction, the organisers are only hoping that the judges would not deliver an adverse verdict so close to the October 3-14 Games. In a worst case scenario, if the verdict goes against the organisers, the Games would be in serious jeopardy. Australia recently sounded out that it was ready to host the Games, though it was in a different context – following the attack on Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore.
The Games Village, being built through a public-private partnership between Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and Emaar MGF at a cost of Rs.631.55 crores, will be spread over 59 hectares and will have 14 blocks, 34 towers and 1,168 air-conditioned flats. But another problem has afflicted the project as the DDA and Emaar MGF — a joint venture between the Dubai-based Emaar Properties and India’s MGF Group — are in a dispute over sharing of the flats following liquidity crunch. Last heard, DDA was working out a bailout plan for Emaar MGF — the lone bidder for the Village.
INAUSPICIOUS START
Games Village is only an example of the laid back attitude towards the Games preparations. Consider this: New Delhi had defeated the Canadian city Hamilton 46-22 in November 2003 to win the right to host the Commonwealth Games when Sunil Dutt, now no more, was Sports Minister. But the first meaningful push towards the preparations came almost four-and-half years later when Manohar Singh Gill replaced Mani Shankar Aiyar as sports minister in April 2008.
As it often happens with many big projects in India, the CWG preparations too began on an unsavoury note. Aiyar, who had replaced Dutt following his death in May 2005, and IOA president Suresh Kalmadi, also the chairman of the Games organising committee, fought on several issues in full public view. Aiyar felt the standard of Indian sports would not improve by organising such lavish extravaganzas while Kalmadi felt just the opposite.
This conflict hampered the much-needed coordination and cohesion between the IOA and the ministry and thus delayed the start of many Games projects. Kalmdai heaved a sign of relief when former Chief Election Commissioner Gill, a former mountaineer and a cricket fan, took over. But by the time the change came about, precious time had been lost.
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