By IANS,
New Delhi : The cost of construction and renovation of five stadiums to be used during the 2010 Commonwealth Games (CWG) increased by almost 250 percent of the original, a reply to a Right to Information (RTI) application revealed.
The application filed under the RTI Act by activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal had sought details of the initial and revised budget for the CWG-related projects taken up by the central government.
According to the reply, the initial planned amount was Rs.1,000 crore but later it was revised to Rs.2,460 crore.
The 2010 Delhi CWG are scheduled to take place Oct 3-14 later this year.
The work of construction and renovation of the stadiums – Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Indira Gandhi Stadium, Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Swimming Pool Complex, Major Dhyanchand National Stadium and Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range – is being done by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD).
“The budget was revised on account of revised cost indices and escalation, change in scope of work as per the requirement of venue, various additions and deletions to make venue suitable for various standards and addition of service tax, quality assurance and contingencies,” CPWD said.
The original cost for construction and renovation of Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, which is to host the opening and closing ceremonies, was Rs.455 crore. It was revised to Rs.961 crore.
Similarly, for the Karni Singh Shooting Range the budget was increased to Rs.149 crore from the original Rs.16 crore.