2010 Commonwealth Games thread (for updates!)

[Naga_Solidus]

Originally Posted by jacques

Another problem is the issue of open sewers running along the road. I was having a discussion with a Dutch friend of mine a few years back and he told me that even in Western Europe that they had open sewers running along the roads until the 1980s but they covered them up then.

Where in Western Europe did they have these open sewers?

And FTR, even today, Venice's canals are full of sewage.

[jacques]

Originally Posted by Naga_Solidus

Where in Western Europe did they have these open sewers?

And FTR, even today, Venice's canals are full of sewage.

He told me that in Holland they had open sewers running along the roads until the early 80s like they have in India today. Since he is Dutch I took him at his word.

[kashyap3]

open sewers are more like gutters for excess stormwater that serve no purpose
what city did you find them in?

and there are footpaths[sidewalks] on most roads

its just that people usually dont walk on them due to it being used as a nice platform for begging, spitting and cows strolling

open sewers can only be found in villages/small towns [i.e Guntur,AP]

[jacques]

i guess we must be talking about open gutters then. however the sight of people urinating and defecating into them led me to believe that they were sewers. oh well. they are present everywhere and apparently misused.

my friend in holland must have been talking about gutters that they closed up.

[Ramon]

Is someone going to do something about taxis in Delhi for the CWG and in general? Or will visitors still get into a non-AC Ambassador as the driver leans out of the passenger window and activates the analogue meter which is still set to Re 1.00? Ditto for Bombay.

[Cov Boy]

I agree that there should be more sidewalks in all indian cities. There are improvements in Delhi, Mumbai & Bangalore but more could be done.

Some of the time these sidewalks have been taken over by stray animals sitting there, beggars, slums etc, hence forcing people to walk on the roads. Get rid of these enroachments and give back the sidewalks for safe walking.

[kronik]

ROAD TO 2010: LACK OF COORDINATION, ESPECIALLY BETWEEN SPORTS MINISTRY AND GAMES SECRETARIAT, DISCUSSED AT HIGH-LEVEL MEETING

Organisers get PM’s wake-up call

New Delhi, August 7: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has expressed his displeasure at the manner in which government agencies are preparing for the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Deadlines have to be fixed and a monitoring system needs to be put in place, not just for stadia that will host the events but also for projects like roads and other infrastructure that have to come up in the next four years, the Prime Minister is learnt to have said at a high-level meeting held today.

The issue of lack of coordination between agencies, particularly the Sports Ministry and the Games Secretariat, was also discussed at the meeting.

The meeting saw a stand-off between Union Sports Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar and 2010 Games Secretariat Chairman Suresh Kalmadi, sources said. Kalmadi accused the Sports Ministry of trying to control everything related to the Games, an approach that had bred red-tapism, the sources said. The Sports Minister is learnt to have defended his ministry, saying it had to take note of all developments as it had the overall responsibility for the Games.

The message that went out was clear: with a little over 1,500 days to go for the mega sports event, agencies cannot leave anything to chance.

The past few months have seen government departments, including those from Delhi government, announce projects intended to make the city fit to host the games. Today’s meeting saw presentations by the Sports Ministry, Kalmadi and the Delhi government.

The Centre is already looking at the Civil Aviation Ministry’s suggestions to strengthen links to the airport with air traffic set to grow rapidly by 2010. The projects being worked out include a direct Metro link from New Delhi to IGI airport - this got an in-principle approval last week - and dedicated roads to handle traffic headed for the airport.

WHO'S INVOLVED

* Group of Ministers (GoM): Headed by Union HRD Minister Arjun Singh, takes the final call on crucial issues
* Union Sports Ministry: Nodal ministry for the event
* Delhi government: Responsible for providing the right infrastructure, including roads and flyovers
* Delhi Development Authority (DDA): Has to construct the Games Village near Akshardham Temple
* Sports Authority of India: In charge of the main venues like Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium
* Central Public Works Departments (CPWD): Tasked with working out an upgrade of existing stadiums

------------------------------------------------------------

DD readies to play big brother role

NEW DELHI: The government is on an overdrive for the 2010 New Delhi Commonwealth Games, and it’s not just hi-tech roads and infrastructure alone.

In a meeting slated for August 5 with broadcasting industry representatives, information and broadcasting minister PR Dasmunsi is expected to discuss the modalities of sharing Doordarshan’s signal of Commonwealth Games with private channels. At the same meeting, the minister would also talk to private broadcasters about promoting the Games on their respective TV channels, it is learnt.

As the host broadcaster, Doordarshan would provide all possible assistance to private channels for a nationwide campaign to promote the Games, Dasmunsi is understood to have told a joint session of the organising committee of the New Delhi Commonwealth Games and a visiting high-level Australian delegation.

Recently, London-based sports marketing agency, Fast Track, sold the India territory TV rights for the 2010 Commonwealth Games to DD, for an undisclosed amount. For the Melbourne Games in 2006, DD had paid $400,000 for the rights.

While public broadcaster Doordarshan wants the help of private channels now to showcase the 2010 Games, government guidelines only talk about sharing TV feed the other way round. According to a recent notification, private TV channels, with exclusive rights to certain sport events, must mandatorily share their feed with DD. Although private channels have been up in arms against the sport event-sharing guidelines, the draft broadcasting bill has included the same for a proposed legislation.

While earlier the government wanted private channels, with exclusive rights to cricket matches involving India, to share their live feed with DD, now a list of sport events has been drawn up for the purpose. As per that list, TV rights holders of international fixtures in tennis, hockey, football, chess, snooker and billiards besides the Olympics, Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and Afro-Asian Games will have to share signals with Doordarshan.

The government has clarified that the rights holders would not have to share the entire tournaments with DD. For instance, only the finals of the four Tennis Grand Slams must be shared.

Similarly for football, the semi-finals and final of the World Cup, European Cup and the Asia Cup besides all India matches would be covered by the provision. In the case of hockey, all matches featuring India, the semi-finals and final of the hockey World Cup and the Champions Trophy will have to be shared with DD.

[kronik]

slightly dated, but I think it went unreported.

Delhi University backs out of its commitment to host CWG swimming

NEW DELHI: With the Delhi University (DU) backing out of its commitment to house a new aquatics complex, the 2010 Commonwealth Games Organising Committee (OCCG) has started afresh its search for a suitable venue.

Already well behind schedule in its finalisation of sports venues and with space being difficult to find in the Capital, the task of the OCCG is enormous. The only silver lining in the latest muddle could be the prospects of the aquatics complex coming nearer to the main venue, the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, than in the original plan.

May lose rugby too


Delhi University was to be the venues for aquatics and rugby according to the plans finalised by the OCCG last December. After having expressed its inability to provide a venue for the aquatics complex, the university could also lose its right to host rugby.

A meeting of the Infrastructure Committee for the 2010 Games, held last Tuesday, recommended that rugby also be withdrawn from DU in case it was not prepared to host aquatics.

In a letter to the OCCG Chairman, Suresh Kalmadi, dated July 24, the DU vice-chancellor, Deepak Pental, wrote that because of the latest developments related to reservations, the university was not in a position to provide the polo ground for establishing an aquatics complex as planned.

He said that the ground would be required for academic infrastructure. He, however, assured Mr. Kalmadi that DU would be willing to host rugby at the main university ground.

Talkatora not enough


Before opting for a new complex at the university, the Talkatora pool, venue of the 1982 Asian Games, was found to be inadequate to host the events mainly because of the lack of parking space there. Moreover, there was hardly any space there for support staff, media facilities, conference rooms and expansion of players' change-rooms, lounge etc.

The latest development could lead to a situation where the OCCG could review the possibility of renovating the Talkatora pool unless the authorities are able to spot and acquire a 15-acre plot for a brand new pool without losing much time.

Alternatives were already discussed, but acquiring land in the vicinity of the proposed Games village, near the Akshardham Temple, or in the Kalindi Kunj area was proving bothersome, according to an OCCG official.

[JD]

Originally Posted by kashyap3

open sewers can only be found in villages/small towns [i.e Guntur,AP]

Bangalore has open sewer, may be the only big/medium size city with such drainage system. Well it used to be till I was there (2003) so I am not sure whats going on now.

[Babji]

Originally Posted by kronik

ROAD TO 2010: LACK OF COORDINATION, ESPECIALLY BETWEEN SPORTS MINISTRY AND GAMES SECRETARIAT, DISCUSSED AT HIGH-LEVEL MEETING

Organisers get PM’s wake-up call
------------------------------------------------------------

DD readies to play big brother role

are they going to plan all the events in delhi only or
how are the events distributed - any ideas?

[kronik]

I think its all Delhi. Trans-Yamuna Delhi (east) to be precise.

meanwhile....

After DU’s refusal, Jamia eyes 2010 Games aquatics

New Delhi: After Delhi University (DU) expressed its inability to host the aquatics competitions in the 2010 Games, certain other entities have approached the organisers to stage the event.

‘‘Some others, like Jamia have shown interest in hosting the event and a decision will be taken soon,’’ Commonwealth Games Organising Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi said.

DU had been assigned rugby and aquatics, but it expressed inability for want of space. However, the organisers have not given up on convincing the varsity to keep their promise. ‘‘We are still trying to put our point across to DU officials,’’ Kalmadi said on the sidelines of the launch of the second edition of the Delhi Half Marathon scheduled for October 15.

‘‘A committee headed by Organising Committee secretary general Lalit Bhanot has been set up to look into the matter,’’ Indian Olympic Association president said. PTI

[Sridhar]

If the main constraint at Talkatora is of parking space, why can't a multi-storeyed parking structure be built there? I know it has a parking lot and a parking structure would increase the capacity several fold. Also, since it is part of the complex that includes the Talkatora Indoor Stadium as well as the Talkatora Gardens, parking should surely not be an impossible problem to solve. In the worst case, build a parking lot elsewhere and run shuttle buses to the stadium! If the stadium itself is fine, I don't see the logic of parking dictating the construction of a new stadium in DU.

The article also mentions lack of space for other facilities. This might be a bigger problem, but again, there could be some creative thinking to fix this. One alternative is to tear down the existing stadium and build a new one at the same site. The site itself is, in my view, large enough to accomodate a good stadium, with good facilities and adequate parking. It will of course require creative design solutions.

[onlyprince]

New Delhi, Aug 16. (UNI): Infrastructure in Delhi will be strengthen and the city will get a facelift before the commencement of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit announced on Tuesday.

"The Delhi Government during the last seven years has strived hard to make Delhi a world-class city. This resolve has been further strengthened by selection of Delhi to host the Commonwealth Games 2010, which has provided a wonderful opportunity to strengthen the city's infrastructure to make it a global city," Dikshit said in her address after unfurling the National Flag on the 60th Independence Day at Chhatrasal Stadium here.

The Chief Minister took the salute at the Independence day Parade comprising various contingents of Delhi Police, Delhi Fire Service, Home Guard, Civil Defence, NCC, NSS, Scouts and Guide and school children.

She presented President Medals to the widows of seven Fire Officers who lost their lives on duty. Seven serving fire officers and seven best NCC cadets were also honoured on this occasion.

Ms Dikshit said clean city campaigns have been launched from time-to-time to involve the citizens in making Delhi cleaner.

The Chief Minister said the Government has actively pursued the construction of Eastern and Western Peripheral Expressways around Delhi to divert all un-destined vehicles for the Capital city, passing through Delhi, decongest major roads and curb vehicular pollution.

"Construction work of several new flyovers like Naraina, Mangolpuri etc. is under progress and the Delhi Government is going to construct a flyover at Mukarba Chowk to ease the growing traffic on outer Ring Road and GT Karnal Road," she added.

She said a new world-class bridge over river Yamuna at Wazirabad at a cost of Rs 454 crore would also be constructed.

About meeting the growing demand of power in the Capital, She said the Government has decided to set up a 2000 MW pithead coal based power project in Janjgir Champa district of Chhattisgarh.

"The plant will make available 1000 MW of power well before the Commonwealth Games, 2010. Two dedicated 500 MW Thermal Power Plants are also being set up in Dadri by the NTPC," she pointed out.

The Chief Minister appealed to the citizens of the city to conserve power and cut down wasteful energy consumption.

She announced that a power and water conservation week would also be observed in Delhi in the month of September.

While the Delhi Government will continue to make concerted efforts to rationalise water supply, the Chief Minister implored upon all citizens to conserve the source and adopt rainwater harvesting system.

[cptracker]

http://cities.expressindia.com/fulls...?newsid=197202

Three new power stations by 2010, says Minister

Express News Service

New Delhi, August 17: DELHI Power Minister Haroon Yusuf today said a dedicated 490 MW power plant would be set up at the Badarpur Power Station and will be functional by the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

The minister also said the government will install two coal-based units of 490 MW each at Dadri in collaboration with NTPC.

The two units, which is expected to cost around Rs 4,000 crore, will “sufficiently cater to the power demand in the Capital’’.

Yusuf made these announcements as he inspected the repair work on at the Badarpur thermal power station. He was accompanied by Chief Secretary R Narainswamy, Principal Secretary (Power) Rakesh Mehta and Director (Operations) Transco S R Sethi.

The minister said repairs at the power station, which meets over 20 per cent of Delhi’s electricity demand and has a total installed capacity of 720 MW, should be over by Monday.

“The plant will start supplying power to the city by the 22nd and will thus ease the power crisis (of)... the past few weeks,” he added.

Government officials said the repairs were part of capital maintenance that had been due for the last two years.

The last maintenance was done in 1999 and the current repairs were “a must for functioning purposes’’.

Bhutan to supply 200 mw power
Power Minister Haroon Yusuf says 200 MW of power from Bhutan will be available to Delhi within two days. The power will be routed through northern Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and a transmission trial is on. There is also a plan to ask for electricity from the Damodar Valley Corporation, Yusuf said.

[cptracker]

http://cities.expressindia.com/fulls...?newsid=197201

POWERLESS: DELHI NOW LOOKS AT OTHER STATES FOR SETTING UP POWER STATIONS

Chhattisgarh plant idea trips

Esha Roy

New Delhi, August 17: There is more bad news for already power-starved Delhi. The much-touted ambitious 2000 MW Chhattisgarh Power Plant which was to solve all power problems for the Capital is likely to be scrapped.

The Delhi government along with the Centre is now engaging in huddled meetings with other states to salvage the situation. The Government had planned to set up the 2000 MW plant in order to meet the expected spiralling power demand by the Commonwealth Games in 2010. Senior officials in the Government today revealed that the plant will no longer be situated in Chhattisgarh due to the recent stand-off between the State and the Centre regarding the supply of five per cent power at variable cost to the Chhattisgarh government.

“The expected demand for power in Delhi by the 2010 Commonwealth Games is 6000 MW, double the current demand. Delhi has coal allocation in Chhattisgarh which why we were setting up a pit head plant there to meet the expected demand. This will now no longer happen. We are looking for alternatives, however, this too will take time,’’ said senior government officials.

The Centre is already talking to Haryana to see if a power plant can be set up in the neighbouring state. “Haryana is willing to let us set up a plant there but this is still in principle. The modalities will have to be worked out. Both the Government of India as well as the two state governments will have to address issues such as who will finance the project and in what proportion. Till now we have agreed in principle that the power supply will be shared on a 50-50 per cent basis. Moreover, the plant which may be set up in Haryana will only be a 1500 MW plant as opposed to the 2000 MW plant in Chhattisgarh which would have been a dedicated plant for Delhi,’’ said government sources today.

Government officials admitted that the situation was serious as the dedicated supply to Delhi, including its own generation is only 1000 MW — a full 5000 MW short of what the city will need by the year 2010. “Of course most of our power does come from other states through Power Purchase Agreements. Apart from Haryana we are looking at the possibility of setting up a dedicated power plant at Maaran in Madhya Pradesh where Delhi has coal allocations similar to that in Chhattisgarh. But we still have to look into this possibility,’’said senior officials.

Delhi Minister for Power Haroon Yusuf had last month already inspected the site where the Rs 10,000 crore Chhattisgarh plant was to be set up and the Delhi Government was in the process of acquiring land from the Chhattisgarh government at Janjgir district.

[kronik]

'Games Village' to be completed by Dec 2009

DDA has prepared timelines for completion of the construction of 'Games Village' by December, 2009.

Replying to a written question in Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Urban Development Ajay Maken said the Authority has also informed that all temporary overlay works will be completed by August, 2010.

The DDA has indicated that financial consultants and environment impact assessment consultants have been appointed and the change of land-use for the residential zone of the 'Games Village' has also been taken up for approval, he said.

Cooperation of the Railways ministry has also been sought in the construction work for Commonwealth Games 2010 and the response from them has been encouraging, Maken said.

[kronik]

In other news, the Government has decided that it will try to give the visiting athletes, officials and media an authentic taste of India and its culture and lifestyle. In this regard, there will be stray dogs provided in all parts of the games village. There will be cows and bulls on all major junctions and entry points. In addition, there will be pigs in and around all the water bodies.

Stray dogs in Games Village: civic bodies disown responsibility

Civic bodies in the Capital seem to have washed their hands off the responsibility of controlling the stray dog population in and around the Commonwealth Games Village.

While the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) says the area is not under their jurisdiction, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) says it is not aware of any such problem.

Following a Supreme Court ruling that animals should not be killed but sterilised, the MCD had constituted a Society for Animal Birth Control with four NGOs — Sonabhi, Frendicoes, Circle for Animal Lovers and Sanjay Gandhi Animal Care Centre. Five other NGOs were involved in the programme later.

While MCD was to provide funds for the sterilisation drive through the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) and cover the shortfall in finances on its own.

However, the MCD has now sent a letter to the AWBI asking it to provide funds directly to the NGOs. “We’ve not been told about this, nor are we working on any action plan to rid the area of the menace,” says MCD Veterinary Director Dr R.B.S. Tyagi.

The NGOs are firm that they will not allow the Games to take place if the government does not intervene. “If the government continues with its plan to kill stray dogs, we will protest. We’ve been asking the government to involve us in the sterilisation programme. This will help lessen the number of stray dogs but there has been no follow up from the government’s side,” says Geeta Seshamani of Frendicoes.

NGOs claim there are close to 8,000 dogs in the area where the Games are scheduled. This is excluding stadia and the airport.

[onlyprince]

New Delhi, Aug 15: Next time if the city bus you travel by gets delayed or cancelled, you may be able to call up the bus conductor and demand an explanation.

Along with a slew of other innovative measures to improve the road transport system of the national capital, the Delhi government is planning to give mobile phones to the bus drivers and conductors of the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) for ensuring better services to the commuters.

"Giving mobile phones to the drivers and conductors is one of the plans we have to improve the city's transport system ahead of the 2010 Commonwealth Games," Anshu Prakash, Chairman cum Managing Director, DTC says.

Infact, DTC, the state owned transport corporation which is the largest non polluting fleet of buses in the world also plans to give the transport system a new look before the 2010 Commonwealth Games which will showcase the city before the world.

Besides this step, a new fleet of 500 hi-capacity, low floor buses will be pressed into service by 2008-09. These buses will not only offer better services, but will Also improve the look of the city, officials say.

[kashyap3]

wow, what good will calling up the conductor do once you missed the bus?

but i guess it all adds up to accountability

[magestom]

I was told about this project when I was in Delhi and this was in the wrong section... It was posted in India's mass transit thread..

http://cities.expressindia.com/fulls...?newsid=197066

Tokyo drift: PWD plans to build seven elevated corridors in Capital

Officials say move is required as Ring Roads will be choked in 5-6 years

Anubhuti Vishnoi

New Delhi, August 16: A number of flyovers, underpasses and Metro corridors are set to come up to ease traffic woes in the run-up to the Commonwealth Games, but the PWD is looking further ahead and has planned Tokyo-style elevated roads for the Capital. These seven elevated corridors (see box) which will crisscross Delhi are meant to take the load off Ring Road.

“All the corridors together will be some 85 km long... Besides the five main elevated corridors, there will be two other elevated sections to complete the missing links on the Outer Ring Road,’’ said a senior PWD official.



The project cost will run into a few thousand crore and we will involve global consultants for it, the official said.

“Though difficult to accomplish, the project is vital for Delhi as our surveys have shown that the Ring Road will be choked in another 5-6 years or so...” he added.

In addition, there will be a six-lane road over the Barapullah drain. Feasibility studies have partly been done for the east-west corridor from Rajghat to Punjabi Bagh, the most difficult section as it covers heavily congested areas. Feasibility studies will shortly be commissioned for other corridors.

Global players are keenly interested in the project which has a 10-year implementation deadline. An official says: “Since a project of this nature has not been implemented anywhere in the country before, we have to involve global firms. Firms from Australia, Malaysia and Germany have shown interest... However, we will not hand over the project entirely to an international firm as the cost will be too high. We will have an associate Indian firm as well.’’

While some of the corridors may be ready in time for the 2010 (Commonwealth) Games, this is a long term measure...”