Indifference of CWG organizers tremendously disappointing: Kiwi Games chief

WELLINGTON - New Zealand’s Games chief Mike Stanley has described the indifference of the organizers of the XIXth Commonwealth Games to be held in Delhi from October 3 to 14 as “tremendously disappointing.

Andrew Pipe, the president of Canada’s Games delegation, also criticized the attitude of the organizers.

“Their indifference at times has seemed to border on the intransigent to us, and that’s just unacceptable,” he told the BBC.

Months of warnings about security, shoddy infrastructure and the state of the village “have fallen on deaf ears”, Pipe said.

New Delhi had been expecting 7,000 athletes and officials for the multi-sport showpiece for Commonwealth countries, mostly nations and territories formerly in the British Empire.

India was hoping to show off its progress and growing economic might-the “shining India” of nine percent economic growth, high-tech software companies and new diplomatic clout on the international stage.

But a footbridge collapse this week and a shooting outside New Delhi’s main mosque have brought simmering disquiet to a head, coming after well-documented delays, political infighting and allegations of corruption.

A top Indian builders’ union said the rush to finish venues in time-seven years after the country was awarded the Games-had compromised safety and quality.

“It is a sad state of affairs indeed and, psychologically, puts a question mark against India’s capacity to deliver,” said the general secretary of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Amit Mitra. (ANI)