Organising committee will not accept incomplete stadiums, says Kalamdi

Published>Sat, Jul 31 10 08:37 PM

New Delhi, July 31 (IANS) Commonwealth Games organising committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi Saturday said the organising committee will start taking over venues from Sunday and will not accept any unfinisihed stadium.

Kalmadi said that the organising committee cannot be held responsible for the delay in the construction of venues for the Oct 3-14 Games.

'I reiterate that the organising committee has nothing to do with the infrastructure and construction projects. These pertain to Government agencies and venue owners and it would be very unfair to hold organising committee responsible for either the delays or the discrepancies. We will start taking over the venues from tomorrow and I assure you that we will not accept any incomplete stadiums,' said Kalmadi.

He also said that the organising committee's responsibility is to manage the Games and that they are not been involved in any tendering process for the construction of any stadia.

Kalmadi said the organising committee - which includes four officials of the level of Joint Secretary - functions in a transparent manner and follows a regulated procedure regarding all financial matters.

'Every proposal has to be passed by the finance committee, the finance sub-committee set up by the Group of Ministers and the organising committee's executive board,' he said.

Kalmadi also said that a recent report on the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) website by Chief Technical Examiners' Organisation on the infrastructure and construction projects had not named the organising committee.

'I am deeply hurt by the allegations against the organising committee. Our role is not to look after construction. My duty is to organise the games. In the CVC report, there is no mention of the organising committee. Every pie is accounted for.

'The campaign is very demoralising for athletes and officials who have been working day and night for many years now to make the Games a success. The need of the hour is to get on with the Games and be united to make this happen. Let not corruption be the only highlight. There are many positive things to write and talk about,' he said.

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