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HomePageTurnerBook ExcerptsEven the PMO had orphaned the Commonwealth Games in Delhi: Sheila Dikshit

Even the PMO had orphaned the Commonwealth Games in Delhi: Sheila Dikshit

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In her book, Citizen Delhi: My Times, My Life, Sheila Dikshit talks about the alleged irregularities surrounding the Commonwealth Games and the unacknowledged work by her team.

Part 1

The Delhi government had been entrusted with specific responsibilities pertaining to the CWG. We were tasked with upgrading the stadia that fell within our jurisdiction, Chattrasal, Shivaji and Ludlow Castle Hall—and building a new venue, the Thyagaraja Stadium, which we decided to construct as India’s first green sporting venue. Other tasks included streetscaping and upgrading street lighting on a total 410 km road length—a responsibility we shared with departments under the Centre.

The bulk of the responsibilities lay with the Government of India and bodies such as the Commonwealth Games Federation, Indian Olympic Association and the Organising Committee (OC) of CWG. The government on its part had created five committees under key Union ministries and senior officials to cover project reviews, facilitation of activities, co-ordination between different bodies, security arrangements and monitoring of venues. The OC was in charge of sports equipment. In reality, there were many more bodies involved, among them the MCD, NDMC, Delhi University, Sports Authority of India, DJB, the Railways, and the Delhi Commission for Women. Since some event venues happened to be located outside Delhi, namely in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, their respective police forces were also involved. There was just one problem, though—almost two-thirds of all projects were running behind schedule as of January 2009.

The Delhi government needed to know how many countries were participating, how many events there were, which sporting venues would be used for the Games and which ones for training, and which hotels would be earmarked for visiting delegates. These details would determine the areas that required road-widening, over-passes and underpasses, and streetscaping. This important information was made available to the Delhi government only by late 2009, leaving so many things to the eleventh hour.

My anxiety was on the rise. I felt a sense of ownership about all the projects whether they were our direct responsibility or not. Knowing that people saw me as the face of Delhi and would ultimately associate any misstep anywhere with our government, I decided to contribute any which way I could. Besides, how could we tell the international community, or even our own people for that matter, that we had co-ordination issues or delays due to one reason or the other? In their eyes, I was the Chief Minister of Delhi.

In part, the delays were due to the lack of a clear chain of command. I had seen the work that had gone into the preparations for the Asian Games of 1982, which triggered the first real transformation of Delhi. At that time the PMO was clearly in charge. It was monitoring the entire effort, led by Indira Gandhi who was personally invested in the event.

This time it was different. There was no unified command overseeing the entire effort or even in the know of the larger picture and details at the same time. The Union Sports Minister, Mani Shankar Aiyar, like his predecessor, the late Sunil Dutt, had made it clear that he was in principle opposed to such mammoth events and so was a reluctant participant. The PMO too held back. As a general indifference marked the preparations, the Games started seeming a bit orphaned.

Part 2

Soon the Games were over, with India coming second in the medal tally, after China. Days after the event, even as the Indian and foreign media praised the Games, especially the opening ceremony, the PMO constituted the Shunglu Committee to examine and investigate the alleged irregularities of the CWG.

I was saddened by the abruptness of the step. An event that ultimately had had so many proud moments had become a contentious issue through and through. There had been no opportunity even to have an assessment of the Games, discuss the lessons learnt regarding the skills and technology or even the kind of tendering process that mega events such as these demanded. Yes, it was imperative to find out if any irregularities had been committed, but before that, it was only proper to acknowledge the hard work put in by an army of honest and sincere volunteers, staff and officials, who saw to it that the Games went off without a hitch. In 1982, following the Asiad, the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, momentarily put aside the errors, faults and delays to acknowledge those who had managed the event. This did not happen in 2010. As for the press, it had got the story it wanted.

There were a series of comments from the Shunglu Committee. Among them was one on the need for the Barapullah elevated road. The Committee was of the view that closing off several roads for general traffic for fourteen days would have saved almost Rs 500 crore that was spent on the project. The fact that such a move would have brought parts of the city to a standstill and inconvenienced the general public, did not seem to matter. Moreover, the fact that the elevated corridor is undergoing phases of expansion under the present-day dispensation, speaks of its relevance to Delhi.

Among the many allegations that were levelled against the Delhi government, one was the purchase of street lighting. It became a major talking point. The imputation was that underhand dealings had marked the selection of the company chosen. The fact that I had held meetings with officials in my residence, a very common practice of chief ministers, was touted as the ‘clinching’ evidence.

A paragraph by paragraph response was given by our government to the various claims and comments made in the Shunglu Committee report. In the specific instance of street lighting, the CBI court indicted four officials of the MCD, which as mentioned earlier, was under the BJP at the time, and two senior officers of an electronics company but none from the state government.

Such was the atmosphere that one of my most upright official told me that whenever he went to a get-together at the time, he was besieged by people who wanted to know how he had managed to keep his name out of controversy.

What came through clearly in all the heated battles fought on and off the television screen was the fact that the credibility of our party, the Central as well as the Delhi government, had eroded. Anything to do with the Centre and our government was automatically suspect.

An event that should have left a legacy of sports facilities, and infrastructure for Delhi, was being perceived entirely as a money-making enterprise, resting on malpractices and without any benefits whatsoever for the Capital and its people. The many flyovers, underpasses, over-bridges, improved pavements, greater thrust on the expansion of the metro or even the delivery of T3 (Terminal 3 of Indira Gandhi International Airport) in time for the Games by various actors were all but ignored and forgotten. It was disheartening.

The name-calling that had emerged as part of the new normal in twenty-first century India was not my idea of India or politics or press. Anyone could hold a press conference, state anything—sensational, of course—without substantiation, and lo and behold, it was reported immediately without any filters. Once a slur was cast, it was left to the target to prove her or his innocence, which was never communicated with the verve that accompanied the initial allegations.

Then, as if on cue, the CAG dropped the 2G bomb.

Citizen Delhi: My Times, My Life by Sheila Dikshit has been published by Bloomsbury. Excerpted with permission from Bloomsbury.

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