INDIA: Delhi's Lieutenant Governor Tejinder Khanna promises healthy and secure Commonwealth games

Record ID: 1374634

  • Title: INDIA: Delhi's Lieutenant Governor Tejinder Khanna promises healthy and secure Commonwealth games
  • Date: 24th September 2010
  • Summary: NEW DELHI, INDIA (SEPTEMBER 23, 2010) (ANI-NO ACCESS BBC) JOURNALISTS SITTING OFFICIALS OF DELHI STATE GOVERNMENT AND OTHER AGENCIES SITTING TEJINDER KHANNA, LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR OF DELHI, BEING PRESENTED WITH A BOUQUET OF FLOWERS OFFICIAL ADDRESSING JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) TEJINDER KHANNA, LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR OF DELHI, SAYING: "I am absolutely confident that we will have great Games. We will be able to provide a very good living environment to all guest athletes who come and to the officials also. At the end of the day when the Games comes to an end we will leave people with memories taking back happily by both the invited people and the guests but also leave a very fine after-taste in the mouths of our fellow Indians as well." OFFICIALS SITTING (SOUNDBITE) (English) TEJINDER KHANNA, LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR OF DELHI, SAYING: "I have always maintained that Delhi has taken very effective steps to ensure security of all visiting athletes and guests for the Commonwealth Games. Massive effort is going on since the last three years. There is a huge increase in the police personnel on ground, surveillance equipment and all kinds of access control and there is a very strong deployment. Now the security arrangements have been presented at least five to six times to top security advisers of various participating countries delegation at various levels. So, in my sense, security arrangements in Delhi are very effective." REPORTER SITTING KHANNA LEAVING
  • Embargoed: 9th October 2010 11:24
  • Keywords:
  • Location: India
  • Country: India
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Sport
  • Reuters ID: LVAAJNJJY0IXHW0Q4UVDC7H0RYTF
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: More nations delay departure to the Commonwealth Games in India as organisers race against time to address security and health concerns that have already prompted several top athletes to pull out.
    An acceptable level of accommodation and security will be provided for all athletes and officials visiting New Delhi for the Commonwealth Games, the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi state Tejinder Khanna said on Thursday (September 23).
    With the Commonwealth Games just 10 days away, the event preparations have been fraught with accidents, including the collapse of a footbridge, and tiles that fell from a false ceiling at one of the venues.
    The Games Village, which will house officials and athletes, has come under fire after teams found them unsuitable for living, with dirty rooms and water seeping into the basement.
    "I am absolutely confident that we will have great Games. We will be able to provide a very good living environment to all guest athletes who come and to the officials also. At the end of the day when the Games comes to an end we will leave people with memories taking back happily by both the invited people and the guests but also leave a very fine after-taste in the mouths of our fellow Indians as well," Khanna told journalists in New Delhi.
    Security fears surrounding the Games have already prompted several top athletes to pull out but Khanna said that effective security arrangements were in place.
    "I have always maintained that Delhi has taken very effective steps to ensure security of all visiting athletes and guests for the Commonwealth Games. Massive effort is going on since the last three years. There is a huge increase in the police personnel on ground, surveillance equipment and all kinds of access control and there is a very strong deployment. Now the security arrangements have been presented at least five to six times to top security advisers of various participating countries delegation at various levels. So, in my sense, security arrangements in Delhi are very effective," said Khanna.
    The Games, held every four years for members of the organisation of mostly former British colonies, are estimated to have cost $3-6 billion. India had hoped to use them to display its growing global economic and political clout, rivaling China.
    Instead, they have snowballed into a major embarrassment for the government, having to fend off criticism of shoddy construction, inadequate security and unfit accommodation.
    In a sign of desperation, the federal government ordered the organising committee to hand over management of the Games Village, which will house 6,500 athletes, to the government.
    In contrast, preparations for the November's Asian Games in China, which held a hugely successful Summer Olympics in 2008, are on track, with organisers in Guangzhou handing the athletes' village over to the Asian Games authorities for sign-off earlier this week.
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