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It happens only in India
The Ranchi Games were postponed and will finally take place from February 15 to 28. But a 1000 crores and six years later, the infrastructure is a mess, reports Saurabh Duggal.
Jharkhand knew they would be hosting the National Games by October 2002. A year on, this was officially confirmed, they were told they would host the 2007 Games. Eventually, the Ranchi Games were postponed and will finally take place from February 15 to 28. But a 1000 crores and six years later, the infrastructure is a mess.
Of the three indoor stadiums, one is barely done, while the main stadium, where the opening and closing ceremonies will be held, is miles from completion.
The synthetic track, in addition to the 40,000 chairs for spectators, is yet to be laid.
On January 12, the technical directors met in Ranchi to inspect the technical equipment, but couldn't do anything because the technical equipment for more than half the disciplines had not arrived in the Games Village.
"Instead of showing us the equipment, the staging association pleaded with us to cooperate and not raise any objection," one director told HT.
The Jharkhand Olympic Association secretary general SM Hashmi admitted they were behind schedule "on a couple of projects", but insisted that Games would go on. "Two companies didn't work at the required pace, resulting in the delay," he said. There was no explanation forthcoming on the massive delay all around. Excuses — the story of Indian sport.
