E-Paper
Piqued Gill fires latest warning shot
Hindustan Times first brought it to light on August 14. And now sports minister MS Gill has also seen the light. Gill is not too pleased with the pace of the construction work at the Karni Singh Shooting Ranges for the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
Hindustan Times first brought it to light on August 14. And now sports minister MS Gill has also seen the light. Gill is not too pleased with the pace of the construction work at the Karni Singh Shooting Ranges for the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
Visiting the site on Wednesday, Gill criticised the authorities for the delay that could well result in India losing out on hosting the Commonwealth shooting championship and the shooting World Cup early next year.
“The situation now is pretty grim. I would not say I am satisfied with the progress of the work and more effort has to be put in,” Gill said. That’s good to hear. HT has been saying for quite some time that progress has been most unsatisfactory.
“The construction of the venue started in July last year. There were internal rifts between National Rifle Association of India (NRAI), Sports Authority of India (SAI) and CPWD. All these issues had to be resolved for the construction to begin,” said Gill. The initial deadline for completion was August 31. Subsequently that has been revised to December 31.
“Fifty-five percent of work has been completed in one year, the rest 45% has to be completed in four months. The goal is to have the range ready for the Commonwealth championship, which is also a preparatory event for the 2010 Games and there’s no compromise on that,” Gill said.
Gill also stressed that the low number of labourers at the facility is the reason for the delay. “They need to increase the number of labourers to improve efficiency. There has been some friction between various agencies, but that’s been sorted out.”
But NRAI officials still maintain their doubts about completion of the venue on time for the championship next year. “How can you complete the work on time with 1/3rd of the required labourers?” asked Baljeet Singh Sethi, secretary general, NRAI.
