The embarrassing list of Games goof-ups gets longer

The pedestrian bridge collapsing is just the latest embarrassment as far the organisation of the Commonwealth Games is concerned.

The pedestrian bridge collapsing is just the latest embarrassment as far the organisation of the Commonwealth Games is concerned.

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Unclean Village
Some countries such as New Zealand and Scotland have complained that the Games Village towers allotted to them were filthy and uninhabitable.

Venue delays
For the first few years after bagging the Games bid in 2003, files kept going to and fro between the Union Sports ministry and the Indian Olympic Association. Finally, in December, Commonwealth Games Federation Chief Mike Fennel recced the venues and warned that further delays would jeoperdise the Games. The delays escalated project costs.

The debris
For most part of the past two months, civic bodies such as the MCD and the NDMC let construction waste and debris pile up along roadsides and around venues. Mike Fennel, CGF
chief, said this was hurting the Games’ image.

Leaking roofs
Eyewitnesses claimed the roofs of the Yamuna Sports Complex and the Siri Fort sports complex venues, prepared by the Delhi Development Authority, began leaking. Rainwater had damaged the wooden floor at Yamuna Sports Complex.

SMAM
A sports management company, SMAM, was hired by OC for bringing sponsors. But the contract the OC entered into bound the OC to give commission to the SMAM even for those sponsors that the company was not responsible for bringing. After public uproar, the OC later junked the deal.

Catering fiasco
The Games Village found its caterer after two tendering processes. And the venues did not have a tender until a month ago.