OC blames Kalmadi for CWG mess

NEW DELHI: With its erstwhile head Suresh Kalmadi in jail, the Commonwealth Games Organizing Committee has named the Pune MP as culpable for the gross mismanagement and widespread corruption that tainted the Delhi games.

In its responses to the V K Shunglu report, the organizing committee has agreed that irregularities and allegations of graft in the Games Village catering, accreditation, ticketing, uniforms and volunteer appointments be investigated.

Some of the controversial deals like the ones relating to timing, scoring and results and the Queen's Baton Relay are being probed by the CBI and find mention in the Suresh Kalmadi-less OC's responses.

OC sources said there were allegations of corruption in almost all functional areas with the smallest of contracts involving kickbacks. The overall responsibility rested with Kalmadi who through his associates like Lalit Bhanot and B K Verma manipulated contracts and created a situation where the Games were almost not held.

There is some disappointment among committee officials who were not part of the Kalmadi clique that last minute efforts to stage the Games did not find any appreciation in the Shunglu report. These officials also point out that senior government functionaries did not do so either.

The OC's indictment of Kalmadi is in a sense an acceptance of blame for the taint that marred the Games. With the MP sacked as chief organizer and now under arrest for the timing, scoring and results scandal, the committee was able to respond to the Shunglu report in a more objective manner.

The overlays deals with regard to furniture, office equipment and tapestries also need to be investigated, the committee said. These involved foreign vendors working with Indian collaboration. The role of foreign consultants, visits and stay of Commonwealth Games Federation officials has also been seen as wasteful expenditure.

The committee also pointed to the failed attempt by Kalmadi to get an additional Rs 700 crore for the Games in mid-2009. Officials do feel that the role of senior figures in the sports ministry, including the then minister M S Gill, needed to be probed as warnings about the actions of Kalmadi and his associates went unheeded.