The vice chairman of the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee and secretary general of Indian Olympic Association, Randhir Singh, has hailed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s intervention as a miracle.
Addressing media persons here on Wednesday, Randhir Singh said after the Prime Minister took charge of the mega event, preparations at venues and other facilities have picked up remarkable pace.
He claimed that the Group of Ministers (GoM) convened by the Prime Minister is closely monitoring the work at the Games Village in close cooperation with the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), which is in charge of developing the state-of-the-art Games Village.
“We are very grateful to him and the Cabinet secretary, these 11 officers that have come in and let me tell you literally a miracle is being performed as far as the (Games) Village is concerned and the other venues are concerned,” said Randhir Singh.
“These officers have come there in a meeting held everyday at 3 o’clock, which is chaired by the chairman of the DDA at the Village and both the government offices in-charge, both the Special Commissioners of the DDA, everyone sits there including the OC (Organising Committee) members and you see the sea change in the last 10 days of the Village is phenomenal,” he added.
Randhir Singh also mentioned the Games Village and the venues would be fully operational by the September 16 for the soft opening of the former.
“The teams are coming on the 16th. We are getting a soft opening of the village on the 16th. We have asked 10 sportsmen from every CGA (Commonwealth Games Associations) have been invited,” said Singh
“So now if 10 come or two come or three come, we expect at least 300-400 people coming on the 16th. So, after that they will all come on the 23rd and the training starts on the 23rd. So, by that time everything will be in top shape,” he added.
India is expecting about two million tourists in New Delhi for the Games, as well as about 10,000 athletes from 71 teams representing 54 Commonwealth member states which will be held from 3 to 14 October in New Delhi.