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New flyovers are being constructed. Roads are being widened and new roads are being laid. New stadia are being built and old ones are being renovated. Bus stops are getting a state-of-art look and latest low-floor buses are replacing rickety old DTC buses. Lamp posts are getting designer looks. Metro network is being widened. Delhi Airport is being redesigned to improve facilities. Railway stations are being renovated and upgraded. Connaught Place is being spruced up.
In short, Delhi is getting a facelift. And,the list of activities which is going to gather momentum and enter the fast track during the next year is almost endless. Thanks to Commonwealth Games 2010.
All these, because the Commonwealth Games Committee needs assurance from the government that it will have a minimum level of infrastructure in place before the event in order to host the Commonwealth Games.
There is no external funding for developing this infrastructure. On the contrary, we have offered a sop of US dollars 100,000 to every participating country to develop training facilities for athletes in their countries. That includes countries such as Australia, Canada and Newzealand.
The government hopes to recover the expenditure of hosting the Commonwealth Games from sponsorships, sale of television rights, tourism etc. The Commonwealth Games are just 13 months away. Those who are following the preparations for the Games know that there is hardly any effort to hard-sell this event. In fact, there is no tangible marketing effort as of now. How may sponsors do we have for this event. Sponsorship agreements should have been finalized by now.
The Commonwealth Games 2010 is a 12-day event in October 2010. The Government of Delhi and the Government of India are going to such lengths to please and impress the visitors who would be here for just12 days.
The people of Delhi and the people of India who live here 365 days of the year are, however, doomed to roads riddled with potholes, street lights that glow during the day and go off at night, traffic signals that don’t work always, water-logged streets and what not?
Many of the projects for the Commonwealth Games 2010 are behind schedule. Some of them may not be complete before the games. China handled the Beijing Olympics, which required infrastructure on a much larger scale, so efficiently. Projects were complete months ahead of schedule. We simply refuse to learn from good examples.
The question is: why do we have to wait for an event such as the Commonwealth Games to develop our infrastructure? Why can’t we have a state-of-art infrastructure as a matter of routine and do justice to our tax payer’s money?
The best way to give something back to the tax payers is by providing better infrastructure because it improves their quality of life in real terms. Why can’t we invest tax payer’s money on something which benefits every Indian rather than spending it on bailing out sick public sector units? That would also help us to be ever-ready for such events and there would be no fear of failing to complete the projects on time.
