This is ridiculous – I am not sure how concerned people did budgetary allocations when they bid for commonwealth games, but it seems to be a joke now. The bid which was made in 2003 for hosting Commonwealth Games was put at 1,899 crore rupees, however the unofficial assessment of actual costs have been mindboggling 30,000 crore.
Even the official figures are pegged at 10,000 crore which is more than 500% rise from the previous ear-marked figure.
Normally, it is expected that the cost of such events go up as the event approaches, but this kid of rise in figures is unheard of. This just goes to show, how badly we plan our projects.
These are the findings of ‘white paper’ on the financial and social cost of the event titled, The 2010 Commonwealth Games: Whose Wealth? Whose Commons? .
The report also points out that in the bid to host this Commonwealth Games, the people behind this project have violated the Human Rights as all the beggars and homeless citizens are being arrested, arbitrarily detained and mercilessly driven out of the city in run-up to the games.
HLRN report concludes,
“the entire process related to the Games has been essentially underscored by secrecy, unavailability of information, lack of government accountability and unconstitutional activities, with evidence of long-term economic, social and environmental costs for the nation and specifically for the city of Delhi. Preparations for the Games have already resulted in an irreversible alteration in the social, spatial, economic and environmental dimensions of…Delhi…”
I have always been in favour of hosting such events in India to showcase our prowess, but with these findings I think hosting such events is proving to be more counter-productive.
“India ka naam hum mitti mein mila rahe hain” What say guys? do you agree?