Final blow

Kalmadi's wings clipped, Government takes control of Games panel

NDTV Correspondent August 19, 2010

New Delhi:  The Union Government has formed a committee of senior officials to oversee the preparation of stadiums for the Commonwealth Games (CWG), virtually stripping the Organising Committee (OC) chairman, Suresh Kalmadi, of all his key powers.

Officers of the rank of joint and additional secretaries have been appointed by the cabinet secretariat and each of them has been given responsibility of one stadium. Their job is to ensure that work completes on time for the Games. They have been asked to report directly to the cabinet secretary. 

These are a few of the key appointments made for the next one month:

• JS Deepak, Joint Secretary (Commerce) will look after the Games village
• Subodh Kumar, Additional Secretary to look after all the connectivity issues
• RC Mishra to look after Indira Gandhi stadium & urban development issues
• SR Rao, Additional Secretary to look after Jawaharlal Nehru stadium
• Shashi Shekhar will look after the Delhi University complex
• Gopal Krishna to look after the Dhyanchand stadium and theTyagraj stadium
• Rohit Nandan to look after the RK Khanna Tennis Complex and the Siri Fort complex
• Amarjeet Singh to look after Yamuna Sports Complex.

With just 45 days to go for the Games, the government wants to ensure that all pending projects are completed without any further delays and hiccups. 

Earlier, the government had clipped Kalmadi's wings by forming a group of ministers headed by Union Minister of Urban Development Jaipal Reddy to oversee all work related to CWG.