Centre doubles Games budget

“The Cabinet has approved the proposal of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports for providing a revised budget as loan to the Games Organising Committee,” said Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni after the Cabinet meeting.

Against this revised estimate of Rs 1,620 crore,the Organising Committee is expected to generate revenues to the tune of Rs 1,708 crore.

The hike comes mainly in view of cost escalation in accommodation,catering,the opening and closing ceremonies and in the increase of duration of the Queen’s Baton Relay.

The duration of the Queen’s Baton Relay has been increased from 136 to 240 days on the international leg and from 60 to 100 days on the domestic leg.

The revised route now covers all 70 Commonwealth Games Association nations and territories and all states in India.

The other heads where more money is expected to be spent include office rents,communications,image and look,technology,risk management insurance and technical conduct of sports.

Besides,there are new areas which are essential for the successful conduction of the Games,but were not included in the initial budget of the Organising Committee. These include accreditation,city operations,sponsorship and television rights,security,sustainability and environment,and ticketing.

Another reason cited for the hike is that the number of volunteers has gone up to nearly 30,000. Hence,the cost of accreditation,catering,uniform,on these heads has increased.

“The rent for the Organising Committee Headquarters and technology —which were practically nil in the initial budget — are now around Rs 175 crore and Rs 200 crore respectively. These have also contributed substantially to the increase,” Soni said.

Thursday’s decision follows a spate of Central clearances in matters related to the Games. On October 19,the Union Cabinet cleared a proposal worth Rs 370 crore of the Electronic Corporation of India Limited to set up an Integrated Security System for training and Games venues. The move followed a clause in the “Host City Agreement”,which mandated that all venues associated with the 2010 Games are to be provided with specified facilities including security.

On October 15,the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure cleared Central funding to the tune of Rs 827.85 crore for the development of the Commonwealth Games Village (other than the residential zone). The money is also to be used for upgradation of existing sports facilities at Yamuna,Siri Fort and Saket Sports complexes.