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The Games are being held in delhi, India, from 3 to 14 October 2010, the largest multi sport event conducted to date in Delhi and India, which hosted the asian games in 1951 and 1982. The openning ceremony took place on 3 October at the jawaharalal nehru standium the main stadium of the event. This marks the first time the Commonwealth Games have been held in India and the second time the event has been held in Asia

The preparations for the games received criticism in news media due to issues including heavy rains and floods, infrastructural compromise, preparation delays the withdrawal of prominent athletes,and allegations of widespread corruption However no nations withdrew and the games started on schedule. A widely-praised openning ceremonys that had earlier criticized its preparations, and a remark from international olympic commitee president jacqueos rogue that India had set a good foundation for a future olympics bid After the progress of the first few days of competition in various disciplines, the focus has returned to sport.

The two principal bids for the 2010 Commonwealth Games were from Delhi, India and hamilton ontario Canada. A ballot of members was held in November 2003 at the common wealth production General Assembly in jamaica montegon bay Delhi bid won by a margin of 46 votes to 22, confirming India's first successful bid for the Games. The bid was Canada's attempt to hold the games for the fifth time. India's bid motto was New Frontiers and Friendships.

India shifted the balance in its favour in the second round of voting with a promise that it would provide US$100,000 to each participating country, along with air tickets, boarding, lodging and transport. The successful 2003 afro- asian games held in Hyderabad was also seen as having showed India has the resources, infrastructure and technical know-how to stage a big sporting event. India also thanked Latif Butt, former vice president of the Olympic Council of Asia, for his support in the winning bid, by saying, "You played a vital role in the Commonwealth Games 2010 being allotted to India. Such actions are worthy of emulation by all concerned in Pakistan and India. I have no doubt that if both sides continue to live by such ideals, one day, sooner than later our generations to come will reap the benefits of and be grateful to those making such contributions. You would certainly be such person." The Indian government stated that it would underwrite the total cost of the Games.

The organisation was beset by delays: in January 2010, the Indian Olympic Association vice-chairman Raja Randhir Singh expressed concern that Delhi was not up to speed in forming and organising its games committee and, following a 2009 indian governmentreport showing two thirds of venues were behind schedule, common wealth games federation president Mike Fennell stated that the slow progress of preparations represented a serious risk to the even Singh called for a revamp of the games' organising committees, a former Secretary of the Government of India, was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer In spite of delays and the corruption cases levied on the organisors, commentators stated that they were confident that India will successfully host the games and do so on time.

At the launch of the Queen's Baton Relay in October 2009, the Business Club of India (BCI) was formed through the partnership of the organising committee, the condeferance of indian industry (CII) and the (FICCI). The BCI was formed to both market the Games and promote Indian business interests internationally.

The initial total budget estimated by indian olympic association in 2003 for hosting the Games was

1,620 crore (us$358 million) but escalated official total budget estimation in 2010 became

11,494 crore (us$2.5 billion), which excludes non-sports-related infrastructure development in the city such as airports, city beautification and roads. magazine estimated that the Games cost exceeded original expectations

70,000 crore (us$15.47 billion). The 2010 Commonwealth Games will be the most expensive Commonwealth Games ever.

To support its commitment to mass transport, nine corridors have been identified and are being constructed as High Capacity Bus Systems (for example, one from Ambedkar Nagar to red fort. Six of these corridors are expected to be operational in 2010. Additionally, The delhi metro will be expanded to accommodate more people and boost the use of public transport during the 2010 games. The metro will extend to gurgaon and the noida area. For this large increase in the size of the network, Delhi Metro will deploy 14 tunnel boring machines

indian gandhi international airport is being modernised, expanded, and upgraded. Costing nearly US$ 1.95 billion, has improved airport passenger capacity to more than 37 million passengers a year by 2010. A new runway has been constructed, allowing for over 75 flights an hour and at over 4400 metres long it will be one of Asia's longest.

The airport will be connected to the city via a six-lane expresswayand the $580 million delhi airport metro express line.

The organisers signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United Nations Environment Programme to show the intention to host a "sustainable games" and to take the environment into consideration when constructing and renovating venues. Thyagaraj Stadium is intended to be a key example of environmentally considered construction.

In opposition to this intention, a number of environmental controversies arose and the adverse ecological impact of various aspects of the games have been protested by city residents. City residents filed a public interest petition to the supreme court of india against the felling of 'heritage' trees in the siri fort area to make way for Games facilities. The court appointed architect charles correa to assess the impact and he severely criticised the designs on ecological grounds.In spite of this, in April 2009 the Supreme Court allowed the construction on the grounds that "much time had been lost" and "the damage already caused to the environment could not be undone"

The Commonwealth Games village, located on the flood plains of the yamuna, has also been the subject of controversies about the flouting of ecological norms. After a prolonged legal battle between city residents and the state, construction was permitted to continue on the basis of an order of the Supreme Court of India in July 2009, which held that the government had satisfied the requirements of "due process of the law" by issuing public notice of its intention to begin construction work in September 1999 (a date four years prior to the acceptance of Delhi's bid for the games).

Other preparation

In preparation for an influx of English-speaking tourists for the Games, the Delhi government is implementing a program to teach English, and the necessary skills for serving tourists, to key workers such as cab drivers, security workers, waiters, porters, and service staff. In the two years prior to the Games 2,000 drivers were taught English. The program aims to teach 1,000 people English per month in the hope of reaching all key workers by March 2010. In addition to Delhi, the Indian Government plans to expand the program to teach people in local tourist destinations in other parts of India

To prepare for the energy-usage spike during the Games and to end chronic power cuts in delhi, the government is undertaking a large power-production initiative to increase power production to 7,000 MW (from the current 4,500 MW). To achieve this goal, the government plans to streamline the power distribution process, direct additional energy to Delhi, and construct new power plants. In fact, the government has promised that by the end of 2010, Delhi will have a surplus of power.

In addition to physical preparation, India will offer free accommodation for all athletes at the games village, as well as free transport and other benefits, such as a free trip to the famed taj mahal and a reserved lane for participants on selected highways. The games village will house over 8,000 athletes and officials for the Games. Indian states will train state police forces to handle tourist-related issues and deploy them prior to the Games. A large-scale construction and "beautification" project has resulted in the demolition of hundreds of homes and the displacement of city dwellers at least 100,000 of New Delhi's 160,000 homeless people have removed from shelters, some of which have been demolished. Bamboo screens have been erected around city slums to separate visitors from the sights of the slums, a practice which human rights campaigners have deemed dishonest and immoral.

The delhi high court is set to implement a series of "mobile courts" to be dispatched throughout Delhi to relocate migrant beggars from Delhi streets. The mobile courts would consider each beggar on a case-by-case basis to determine whether the beggar should be sent back to his/her state of residence, or be permitted to remain in government-shelters.

COMMON WEALTH GAMES 2010 IN INDIA (CWG)

By: prathiksha

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