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Journalism of Courage
There is a right kind of buzz at the Games Secretariat here. With a stream of technical delegates coming and going after their 8220;satisfactory8221; visit to the Games venues, one can say that contrary to expectations, the 2010 Commonwealth Games are on track.
Having finalised the master scheduling a few days ago, the Organising Committee OC is positive about the completion of projects well before the deadline. In a way, the master scheduling has also helped the OC identify all stakeholders and their roles with individual responsibilities. 8220;This was a major task left to be done and we are happy we have accomplished it nearly three years before the Games. The order of integration was very important,8221; said chairman of the Organising Committee Suresh Kalmadi here today.
As per the decision which has the approval of the Commonwealth Games Federation CGF, there will be a polyclinic set up at the Games Village with back-up facilities tied up with major city hospitals. This is besides the decision to have medical centres at all venues, said Kalmadi.
Kerry Clark from New Zealand, who visited the venues under construction, said things were looking bright and was hopeful that the New Delhi Games would be a well organised one. During the past couple of months, the CGF has been deploying technical delegates from disciplines like tennis, hockey, cycling, gymnastics, athletics, rugby 7s, table tennis and badminton to visit the venues and give their opinion on the progress and suggestions, if any.
Most of these delegates have also made it to Pune where the Youth Commonwealth Games will be held this October. Delegates from Canada and Jersey are already there and will be visiting New Delhi next week.
According to Kalmadi, the Youth Games Baton Relay will pass through various universities after it is flagged off on August 1 from Delhi, spreading the 8216;Green Games8217; message. Kalmadi said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited the Youth Games venues on his recent trip to Pune. 8220;He was pleased with the progress we have made there,8221; said Kalmadi.
He also said that most teams for the Youth Games wanted to come to Pune a month in advance to acclimatise themselves. 8220;I am consulting various parties concerned in Pune before giving them the go-ahead. Already the teams want to train in Pune before coming to New Delhi for the 2010 Games.8221;
Asked about the revenue part, he said: 8220;We have made a commitment to the government to repay all the money with interest. There need not be any ambiguity about that. After paying all the money, we will be still left with a decent profit,8221; said Kalmadi.
