By IANS,
New Delhi : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has demanded a discussion in the Rajya Sabha on the “slow preparations” for the Commonwealth Games and complaints of corruption in the projects related to the Oct 3-14 showpiece event here.
Party spokesman Prakash Javadekar told reporters here that preparations for the games were proceeding at a tardy pace and efforts were being made to “cover up corruption” in the projects.
Citing the example of Britain, he said that the country had already created sports infrastructure for the 2012 London Olympics.
“Every country finishes preparations for the games in advance,” he said, adding that his party had requested the Rajya Sabha chairman that a discussion on the preparations for the games should be held this week.
The BJP’s Vijay Kumar Malhotra, who is the president of the General Association of National Sports Federations (GANSF), Monday expressed serious concern over the reported poor construction of stadiums for the Games.
Malhotra, a senior vice-president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), said during the general assembly of GANSF that he was shocked to see that despite spending huge amounts of money, most of the stadiums were not ready to host the Games.
“There is a general sense of antipathy, cynicism, concern, worry about the Games. The common man on the street is worried not only about the massive corruption but also about the image of the country,” said Malhotra, who is also the leader of opposition in the Delhi legislative assembly.
Audit watchdog Comptroller and Auditor General of India has pointed to graft and cost overruns in almost all the Games projects while CWG organising committee Suresh Kalmadi is accused of making wrongful payments to a little-known London firm during the launch of the Queen’s Baton Relay last October.