Panned by the Commonwealth Games Federation for organisational laxity, the Group of Ministers (GoM) for the 2010 Games met for a stock-taking session on Sunday in New Delhi with Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit saying she herself was 'nervous' about this race against time.
CGF President Michael Fennell, currently inspecting the venues, was particularly annoyed with the delay in construction work at the venues, which he yesterday described as "distressing".
Dikshit, who attended the GoM meeting chaired by Urban Development Minister S Jaipal Reddy as an invitee, said she herself was jittery about the preparation even though she expected things to eventually fall in place.
"I'm feeling uncomfortable. I'm rather nervous, but I think we can do it in the end," she said.
Sports Minister MS Gill, who also attended the meeting, was more robust in his optimism even though he conceded that the organisers were slow to react for the October 3-14 Games in the capital.
"Whatever time has been lost since 2003, we are trying to make up," Gill told reporters today.
"Fennell has said it time and again that a lot of progress has been made of late and we are doing a good catching up job," the minister said.
"God willing, I'm sure we will get there in good time," he said.
Fennell, however, was not amused with the pushing back of datelines of some of the projects, including the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and S P Mukherjee Swimming Complex.
"We have continuously received assurances on the delivery timelines for these projects, and to now hear that there are further delays is distressing," the CGF chief said yesterday.
"These delays will have impact upon the OC's operational planning, particularly in relation to conduct of test events and overlay installation," he said.
Meanwhile, according to sources, today's GoM meeting, however, mainly concerned the opening and closing ceremonies of the event.
"Today's meeting was largely confined to the opening and closing ceremonies. Creative director Bharat Bala and members of the core team Javed Akhtar, Prasoon Joshi and Shyam Benegal made a presentation today," a source told PTI.
Apart from S Jaipal Reddy, today's meeting was attended by Tourism and Culture Minister Ambika Soni, Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal, Sports Minister MS Gill, Sheila Dikshit and Chairman of the 2010 Organising Committee Suresh Kalmadi.
The GoM, which meets virtually every week to keep a tab on the progress on various fronts, will meet again on December 29. PTI
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