Indian watchdog alleges graft in Commonwealth Games works

Indian paramilitary officials stand guard at the newly inaugurated Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi on July 27. An Indian anti-corruption body has found a host of problems with construction work for the New Delhi Commonwealth Games, including the use of poor quality materials and dubious contracts. (AFP/File/Manan Vatsyayana)

NEW DELHI (AFP) – An Indian anti-corruption body has found a host of problems with construction work for the New Delhi Commonwealth Games, including the use of poor quality materials and dubious contracts.

The chief technical examiner from the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) inspected 15 sites around the national capital and found a number of irregularities and suspect practices by contractors and public bodies.

These include the use of sub-standard concrete and anti-corrosive coatings for steel, fabricated test reports, poor quality control over much-vaunted streetscaping in the capital and the awarding of contracts at inflated prices.

He also found that many organisations were attempting without justification to charge higher rates to finish work in a hurry as the city rushes to be finished on time after repeatedly failing to meet construction deadlines.

“Almost all organisations executing works … have considered inadmissible factors to jack up the reasonable price,” said a statement on the CVC website.

With barely 66 days left to go before the opening of the Commonwealth Games in October, Delhi still resembles a giant construction site, with mounds of debris surrounding dug-up roads and walkways across the city.

“We have found corruption and other procedural irregularities in many Games-related construction projects,” an unnamed CVC official told the Press Trust of India news agency.

The corruption could amount to 200 million rupees (4.3 million dollars) in the projects analysed, which included a number of stadiums as well as Games-related bridges and flyovers, the official said.

A number of recent press reports have focused on apparent problems with the construction quality of sporting venues.

In one instance on July 26, just three weeks after it was inaugurated, the ceiling at the Commonwealth Games swimming pool gave way just before a test event was to take place at the venue.

The allegations put pressure on the much-criticised chairman of the Commonwealth Games organising committee, Suresh Kalmadi.

“It’s not my business, construction of the venue etcetera is not my business at all and most of the things in the report are about construction,” he told the Times Now news channel in reaction.

The 12-day sporting extravaganza involving 71 nations, mostly from the former British empire, is already the most expensive Commonwealth Games in history, with an infrastructure and organising budget of two billion dollars.

Earlier this week, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit threatened to to take severe action against companies if they failed to meet construction deadlines.

“The contractors who fail to complete the projects by August 31 will not only be penalised but also be blacklisted. At the same time they will have to ensure quality of the works,” she told reporters.”

A total of 42 labourers have died in connection with work on various Commonwealth Games sites in the capital, the government said this week. — AFP