Parliamentary Committee to visit CWG Village for inspection

Thu, Oct 21 10 07:37 PM

New Delhi, Oct 21 (PTI) Amid allegations of deficiencies in the Commonwealth Games Village, a Parliamentary Committee will visit the site on November 3 for assessment of the work done there and present its report to Lok Sabha during the upcoming session. The Estimates Committee of the Lok Sabha, at a meeting here a few days back, discussed issues related to conditions at Games Village which have come under sharp attack, including from some foreign delegates, sources told PTI today. At the meeting, there were strong demands that the Committee should visit the Village for an on-the-spot assessment of the work done at the venue where the sportspersons were housed during the 12-day Games. It was decided that the Committee will inspect the site on November 3 and prepare a report which would be placed in the Lok Sabha during the winter session of Parliament beginning November 9, the sources said. Earlier, some members of the BJP and other opposition parties had wanted to inspect the site before the Games commenced on October 3 but Committee Chairman Francisco Sardinha convinced them that the visit should take place after the mega sporting event ended, they said. Sardinha, a Congress MP from South Goa, had argued that a visit by the Committee before the Games would bog down the officials who were already racing against time to complete the arrangements. "The infrastructure will remain even after the Games," he told the members who agreed to visit the Village after the event was over. Sports policy, infrastructure and training facilities of the Sports Ministry are among the subjects being covered by the 30-member Committee. The conditions at the Games Village have come under sharp attack and the government has already initiated punitive action against the private builder Emaar-MGF for shortcomings, deficiencies and delays. Union Urban Development Ministry has ordered confiscation of the builder''s Rs 183 crore bank guarantee and directed initiation of legal action for recovery of other expenditure.

Source: Published>