2010 Commonwealth Games Scam

At the start of the new decade in 2010, India found itself battling a poor self-image as the Commonwealth Games scandal hit the global spotlight. The 2010 Commonwealth Games, commanded in the national capital, have been mired in controversies right from the start, which surfaced regularly and are still not fully resolved. Issues were raised in the propedeutic part of the construction work being overdue and volunteers leaving in huge numbers due to dissatisfaction with their assignments and coaching programme. Wherever workers were forced to beg, gross violations of workers’ rights at construction sites were reportable. The conclusion of the Games was reduced to four additional problems, such as reportable violations of catch rules by Organizing Committee officials and therefore subsidizing labor contracts to incompetent agencies at greatly inflated costs. The insensitivity of the ruling elite, coupled with Dixit’s rejection of the VK Shunglu Committee report that revealed rampant corruption in the award of Commonwealth Games contracts, took the political narrative away from Congress for the first time that year. The findings of the Comptroller and Auditor General that the Delhi government funded the event to private contractors without any profit aggravated the situation for the Congress on the political front.

A Congress that easily trampled the Shunglu report as inconsistent with reality found it difficult to dismiss the CAG’s indictment, as India’s international credibility was undermined. As a result, the CWG scam proved to be the first undoing of the Congress-led UPA, in which the investigating agencies were arrested. Party MP Suresh Kalmadi, the main organizer of CWG 2010. Kalmadi, who was chosen by the late Sanjay Gandhi to join the Congress in the 1970s, spent 10 months in Tihar. Suresh Kalmadi is an Indian politician and senior sports director. In the past, he was a National Indian Congressman. He was MP from Pune till May 2014. He is said to have engaged in immoral activities related to the 2010 Commonwealth Games during his time as the President of the Indian Olympic Association and the 2010 Commonwealth Games. He was charged with investigation under the Prevention of Corruption Act for conspiracy, falsification, misconduct and conspiracy in April 2014, but still did not face any trial.

Kalmadi’s actions around the 2010 Commonwealth Games were investigated with a request from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate certain aspects of the Games organized by the Central Vigilance Commission. On 25 April 2011, in a time-scoring-result (TSR), the CBI arrested former CWG Organizing Committee (OC) chairman Suresh Kalmadi. On 20 May 2011, the CBI filed the first charge against Kalmadi in a special CBI court. He was arrested in compliance with Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code. The CBI claimed that he was the key person in awarding the TSR system contract to a Swiss corporation. Apart from Kalmadi, the CBI has named eight persons, including two firms, former general secretary of OOC Lalit Bhanot and former director general VK Verma, as accused. The prosecution is not only a member of the Office of the Principal Secretary of the Commonwealth Games but also of the general area.

Delhi government’s infrastructure expenditure related to Commonwealth Games-

Rupee. 670 crores on the stadium (Amount spent directly on Commonwealth Games.)
Rupee. 3700 crore (including flyover and bridge, Barapula Nala)
Rupee. 450 crore (ROB, RUB* on Indira Gandhi International Terminal Network)
Rupee. 215 crore (BRTS from Ambedkar Nagar to Delhi Gate)
Rupee. 1800 Cr (DTC Fleet Expansion)
Rupee. 900 crore (construction of resurfacing of roads)
Rupee. 650 crores (Strengthening and Rejuvenation of Roads)
Rupee. 525 crore (street-scaping)
Rupee. 150 crore (road sign)
Rupee. 3000 crore (metro connectivity)
In addition, the MP constituted an organizing committee. IOC President Suresh Kalmadi as the head. A budget of Rs. 1620 crores which ultimately amounts to Rs 11500 crores. And the estimated cost is essentially an astonishing Rs 70000 crores. The Commonwealth Games is an international multi-sport event involving contestants from the Commonwealth of Nations. The Commonwealth Games were scammed in the awareness that the preparation phase for the 2010 Commonwealth Games held in New Delhi involved large-scale misappropriation of funds. The issue was that several political and administrative aspects came to the fore, which ruined the 2010 Commonwealth Games (CWG) scandal. Several other concerns have also been featured, such as the postponement of the maintenance of stadiums and a flop outside the desk by the program management for a major mess of the 2010 Commonwealth Games scandal.