Plan panel asks govt to extend special assistance to fund CWG

The country may be excited with the Commonwealth Games slated to be help in the Capital next year...

The country may be excited with the Commonwealth Games slated to be help in the Capital next year,but preparations for the event are clearly far from being satisfactory,the Planning Commission has said.

As organising the event is likely to cost the exchequer more than Rs 1,000 crore,the plan panel has asked the government to extend special Central assistance for the Games. The commission opines that the amount cannot be met with the normal budget of the sports ministry.

Following a recent review of the ongoing preparations for the Games,the plan panel has inferred that the pace of progress for the training venues is very slow.

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Work has just commenced on 16 of 33 venues,indicating a percentage progress ranging between 1-11 per cent against the target range of between 19 and 89 per cent, the Commission said while pointing out that the completion of training venues within the stipulated timeframe is equally important to have sufficient time for training. The completion of these projects needs to be expedited.

The commission has also pointed out that against the approved outlay of Rs 150 crore,the actual expenditure was reported to be Rs 225 crore during 2007-08. An outlay of Rs 224 crore was budgeted for the last fiscal,with the plan panel supporting an additional requirement of Rs 669.70 crore of the department of sports. From this,the finance ministry had reportedly granted Rs 429 crore through first supplementary grants.

The department of sports has proposed an outlay of Rs 1,880 crore in the Annual Plan. But an outlay of Rs 800 crore was already provided for the Games in this fiscal.

It appears that an additional fund requirement would be to the tune of Rs 1,080 crore for the Commonwealth Games 2010. (The) Planning Commission is of the view that organising the Games is a specific and time-bound event and of national prestige. The fund requirement for such an event cannot be met through normal budget of the (sports) ministry and therefore special Central assistance is required, the commission observed.

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The plan panel,however,expressed satisfaction on the progress of work on competition venues,barring few projects like aquatics,weightlifting,shooting range and cycling under the Central public works department as well as projects related to archery and table tennis under the Delhi Development Authority,which are behind the targeted schedule of completion.