Friday, September 24, 2010

Let's Wake Up!

Welcome to the milestone 10th edition of "KEEP IT SIMPLE" blogs. So without wasting much time lets just get straight into the sporting subject that is concering Brand India's image - the Common Wealth Games.

Now that the commonwealth games are ljust 9 days away the preparations are really going down to the wires. Honestly, I am more than a little confused about whether to support the games or not.

In 2008, Pune - a city in Maharashtra hosted Commonwealth Youth Games and we saw tremenduos development in the city. The journey from Mumbai to Pune which was earlier 5 hours is just about 3 hours today. The magnificent Shri Shiv Chhatrapati Sports City at Balewadi boasts of state-of-art infrastructure and the notable feature of this event was that the competition venues of all sports events and the Athletes Village were located in one single complex. The event was held successfully.

Earlier in summer, apart from a few major roads which were still dug, a few flyovers which were still under construction, the organizers thought that they will easily complete before the D-Day. Govt. stepped in, did some inspection and requested the CM of Delhi to fasten the work. A few months ago, the reports of corruption and scandals broke out that heavy machinery were bought and cheaper amounts and accounted for crores of rupees. Media created a furore and rightly so. Once again the Govt. stepped in and helped Kalmadi to come out clean. The CWG boss visited the Games Village in Delhi and in his report he said that "the preparation is far from over, but we all are working towards achieving one common goal." A few days back some more events took place viz., an Australian carried RDX and showed that security can breached easily and then we had the roof collapsing at one place, a bridge at some other place. So a common man asks these questions - What problems are the organizers facing? Who are responsible people to fix them? Are we just a 1 sport nation? Are we ready as a nation to host any such events?

I will try answering these to the best of my knowledge.

Q) What problems are the organizers facing?
A) It could be a lot of things - support from Govt. in terms wages for unions/workers (most of them who are from backward classes), the corruption that exists in the heirarchy where every top manager wants to have his share of commission and profits. Secondly, it has been raining incessantly in Northern parts of India,The rivers and dams are over flowing causing deluge in many places. This adds to possibilities of outbreak of epidemics and all the hygiene related problems. Thirdly, the Ayodhya case hearing & growing inflation rates and opposition party calling country wide agitation programs are not helping Govt. to focus on one single issue at a time.

Q) Who are responsible to fix them?
A) Well, it should have been the responsibility of the organizers and the State Govt to ensure that all went smooth. Leadership, Ownership & Accountability are the words one must follow in this situation. Yesterday, PM has stepped in for the nth time and has set a 24hr deadline to clean up the Games village. But then, I tell myself that some of these jokers, which basically means the top guys in the organising committee and the civic administration and their political masters, have had 7 years to get things ready, and delayed things deliberately to create panic so that no question asked funds are released. So they deserve no mercy. And then again, the thought creeps up. Why should the nation be embarrassed for the folly of these individuals, especially when we know that those responsible for the mess are thick-skinned?

Q) Are we just a 1 sport nation?
A) This country hosts IPL every year; whenever it comes to cricket, sponsors invest huge money and all the arrangements for the event happen so smoothly that there's never a need for Govt to step in. The preparation for 2011 Cricket WC is in full swing and most of the stadiums have already been rebuilt and used once in domestic tournaments. We also hosted the Hockey World Championships in Hyderabad 2 years amidst all the bomb scares and terror threats in India. When we talk about architectural designs, in Mumbai we have one of the finest bridges a.k.a Bandra Sea-link, Lewis Hamilton drove his Mercedes McLaren on this very bridge. I would like to believe that we are drifting from the image of being a cricketing nation and we can provide a grand stage to all other sports played across the world.

Q) Are we ready to host any such events?
A) Yes. I think this CWG, Delhi is just an one-off affair where things have gone wrong. If it was any other city, may be things would have been better. Basically what is happening is that all these are being done just because some worthies thought all this is needed in an international city, without a clue as to how it is to be executed. There is science behind tactile tiles, or the angle at which disabled friendly ramps are to be built, for example, but it’d be churlish to expect that anyone is even aware of these aspects. It hurts. It really hurts. How we are being milked can be gauged from the fact that most of those involved in the implementation of these projects have spent considerable amount of taxpayers’ money on overseas study tours to learn implementation of such projects. In the absence of any feedback or accountability, one just ends up spending a lot of money with almost zero benefit.

These mistakes for Delhi event will make us better prepared to host world events in future. Just some basic training and awareness will result in creation of better civic facilities, complement this with putting right people for right job at right time will ensure India's status of a growing economic power will flourish even more and bring joy to the masses in the country.

I am sure, you all are aware of what is being done and have an opinion on how it should be done and I would love to hear them. I can only hope this will somehow help in future. It is easy to give up and live with the rot, but then that is taking the easy way out and we don’t want that. Future is always bright.