No game plan

The contretemps between the Commonwealth Games Federation and the Games Organising Committee (GOC) in New Delhi refuses to die down even as the deadline for finishing all the arrangements for this event draws closer. There have been enough indications that India has fallen behind schedule in its preparations for the Games; now the verbal war between the organisers and the Federation chief executive Mike Hooper has further muddied the waters.

Suresh Kalmadi, who in his capacity as the chief of the GOC is managing the preparations, insists that his broadsides against Hooper are not personal; it is just that the latter has not been helpful in his approach and in fact been a hindrance because of his attitude. In which case the organisers have woken up a bit too late since Hooper was appointed two years ago to assist in coordination between the two agencies and stayed in India at considerable expense. Demands for his ouster have surfaced only after the Federation chief Mike Fennell personally appealed to the prime minister to intervene and ensure that work on the Games was speeded up.

Clearly personalities and ego problems have got embroiled into the matter which is causing further harm to the entire project which is already proceeding at a sluggish pace. The bigger point is that whether or not Hooper was a difficult person to work with or whether he stays or not, the speed of construction of the stadia etc is not going to speed up. The failure on that front is the GOC’s responsibility and no one else’s.

Sports minister MS Gill has now said he will step in and sort out the row between the two sides. We applaud him for that. But that is not enough. When Gill and Kalmadi go to London next week for a meeting with the Federation they need to go with a clear cut plan and after having sorted out all the issues in advance; there is no time for prolonged disputes or discussions. More important is a work schedule that will be adhered to; the clock is ticking away.

The danger that it will not be all systems go when the Games finally open next October is real. That will be egg on the face for the government and a big blow to India’s prestige too. It’s time to cast aside all personal battles and extraneous issues and get on with the job of making the Games happen, on time and in a credible manner. That is the mandate for both Gill and Kalmadi.