You probably don’t care too much about this in all honesty, but after we did such a great job in hosting the Football World Cup, it’s interesting to see how other countries fare when the world arrives at their doorstep.

In India’s case – rather badly it would appear. Day after day the damning reports pile up from collapsed bridges and stadium roofs to sub standard athlete accommodation, and with time running out, the whole situation is starting to stink. With some international teams opting to delay their arrival in New Delhi for the XIXth Commonwealth Games, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit visited the Games Village on Thursday to assess the situation.

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit is confident the games will come up smelling like roses.

Referring to the footbridge collapse at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the main venue of the Games, Dikshit said, “I would like to tell you very categorically these minor hitches and glitches do come around, whenever a building is new. But to make it look as if the entire system has collapsed, I am sorry, we do not agree with that. There will be some problems, there are some problems but they are not insurmountable problems.”

27 workers were injured as this bridge fell down in Delhi.

Sounds like Dikshit is talking kak though, as Commonwealth Games Federation President Michael Fennell arrived there today, and is likely to meet the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, to press for his continual intervention to save the XIXth Commonwealth Games from possible collapse.

Fennel’s request to meet Dr. Singh directly shows that the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) is unsatisfied with the progress related to event so far. And to think the athletes were originally probably only worried about doing their best and not getting Delhi belly!

More like disaster in progress.

The Commonwealth Games 2010 will be held from October 3 to 14 in New Delhi.

Tags: ,