Damn-Indians

As I connect my Tata photon plus USB Internet, comes the Yahoo! Fit to Post blog and all it says is the CWG scam. Alas, most of us (I call political enthusiasts), have been big gal’s blouse and talked everything possible to disgust our nation.

We won the bid for the CWG 2010 against Canada (already a developed country) in Nov 2003 and everyone is proud of it. The CWG Delhi 2010 won the bid on a promise that it would provide USD 100,000 to each participating country (actually 72), along with air tickets, boarding, lodging and transport. This will be the biggest event for our country and the most expensive CWG ever with an estimated budget of nearly USD 2 billion (may be more including infrastructure development in the city)

In July 2010, the Central Vigilance Commission and CAG released a report screening irregularities in up to 14 CWG projects. As per the reports the findings include, Award of jobs at higher prices, Poor Quality Assurance and Award of work to ineligible agencies. This is a matter of absolute shame for us, but is it worth talking about at this very moment when we are just a few days away from CWG?

I observe all kind of media attention and coverage to this news. Where ever you go Internet, TV, Blogs, News, Radio, everyone’s questioning the government and discussing corruption in India.

CWG Delhi has bigger challenges than this.

Challenge 1: Following the attacks on Mumbai in 2008 some athletes and their representative bodies expressed security fears during the CWG. The countries like UK and Canada also warned about potential attacks on commercial targets in Delhi.

Challenge 2: Helping 140000 Families to relocate from the areas to make space for CWG-related projects

My idea is to keep this issue to ourselves, just like my mom used to tell me to keep our family affairs within and not discuss it with our guests. I know there is a problem, but can we fix it now? Can we take the work back from these so called ineligible agencies and start fresh?

The answer is “No”. We are so close and we don’t have enough time to re-do it. I wish CVC had released report a few years ago when the work was given to these agencies. I don’t say that the people who are responsible should not be penalized, but this is not the right time. I understand the trauma and the so called disgrace we all (Indians) are going through, but this is time to “soldier on” our government and wish them “all the best”.