India’s sports Minister Mani Shankar Aiyer has criticized the government’s plan to spend more than a $1 billion on the 2010 Commonwealth Games, saying the money could be better spent on developing sporting infrastructure across the country.
He said, “the Commonwealth Games are for the elite of this country and they are the ones who get to grab most of the national resources. People oppose spending money on providing playgrounds to village children, while nobody questions the huge cost of hosting the Commonwealth Games”.
The budget is double the $500 million the Victorian state government spent on the Melbourne Commonwealth Games.
Aiyer, a senior member of the Games organizing committee, said he was aghast at the escalating cost of hosting the event.
At a recent meeting of the Group of ministers for the Commonwealth Games, the sports minister wanted the Games budget to be slashed in half.
Meanwhile, almost three years after New Delhi won the bid, there are reports that work has yet to begin on the construction of new stadiums and a Games village.
IOA secretary general Randhir Singh said, “we are way behind schedule, it’s time we got moving”.
The New Delhi government plans to build new flyovers to decongest the crowded roads, renovate the airport, construct new stadiums and a Games village that will be converted into a residential complex once the Games are over.
