CAG report highlights irregularities in organising Commonwealth Youth Games in 2008 in Pune.
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India’s (CAG) report highlighting the anomalies committed by the organising committee (OC) led by disgraced Pune MP, Suresh Kalmadi, in the Commonwealth Games (CWG) in New Delhi in 2010 also exposed anomalies committed during the organising of the Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG) in Pune in 2008.
The CAG report, made public on August 5, noted that the OC had made several irregularities in organising the CYG and repeated the same anomalies for the CWG in Delhi last year.
For the CYG, the OC had signed an agreement with Sports Marketing and Management (SMAM) to garner sponsorships for the games. However, the targeted sponsorships were not defined and finally the OC collected only Rs20 crore, most of which came from public sector units (PSUs). Yet, the firm was paid a commission of Rs3.37 crore.
In its report, the CAG stated, “Despite the poor performance of SMAM in Pune, the OC failed to acknowledge this danger signal and gave the same work for the CWG in Delhi. It overlooked the fact that meagre sponsorship was generated by the firm in CYG, two-thirds of which was generated from government departments and PSUs”.
The CAG highlighted the lack of any clear strategy to generate revenue from merchandising for the CYG. The OC spent Rs2.29 crore for making the merchandise, while Rs2.03 crore was realised by selling it. During the CWG, the same mistake was repeated and Rs50 crore worth merchandising was generated, but no revenue was received, according to the CAG report.
Similar was the experience when it came to sale of tickets in Pune and Delhi. While tickets valued at Rs3.10 crore were printed, only Rs97.04 lakh worth of tickets were sold in Pune. Similar losses were witnessed at the CWG, with 25% of the tickets remaining unsold.
During the CYG, consultant Ernst & Young (E&Y) had recommended greater coordination with the Press Information Bureau (PIB) and the OC for smooth operations. This was recommended after the glitches observed in the initial days in Pune. However, the OC did not rectify its mistake and similar glitches were observed during the CWG.
As far as accommodations were concerned, the OC of CYG incurred expenses of Rs0.62 crore towards retaining charges for unused hotel accommodation.
The OC did not have any mechanism to track the arrival and movement of guests. The same mistakes were repeated in the CWG, due to which there was excess expenditure of at least Rs1.15 crore.
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