Redouble Commonwealth Games efforts, says Prime Minister

New Delhi: Two weeks after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appointed a panel of ministers to overlook the Commonwealth Games preparations, he went for an inspection of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Sunday.

He was shown the various facilities including box, playing fields, media facilities, the royal box, stands for spectators, security and other arrangements.

The Prime Minister said that it was a beautiful stadium and he urged all concerned authorities to redouble their efforts to quickly complete whatever work remained as people were expecting a spectacular and flawless opening to the Commonwealth Games.

Dr Manmohan Singh had made a mention of the Games in his Independence Day speech, promising they will be a success.

September 15th is the latest deadline set by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit to complete Games venues.

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With missed deadlines and allegations of corruption, the Prime Minister had cracked down on the Suresh Kalmadi led Organising Committee of the Commonwealth Games last week.

Concerned by the delays and the corruption allegations, the Prime Minister had convened a high-level meeting on August 14 to review the preparations for the Games.

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He had formed a committee of bureaucrats headed by the Cabinet Secretary and given it overriding powers by bringing into its ambit the Games Organising Committee that has been tainted by corruption charges.

A Group of Ministers (GoM) was constituted to oversee the Games and a final call on any issue will be made by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

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However, the Prime Minister who was critical of the state of preparedness earlier, now after his visit to inspect the venue, appeared visibly content.

The Prime Minister's inspection visit comes as part of the series of steps he had taken to streamline and expedite the preparations for the October 3-14 mega event which had been rocked by a spate of corruption allegations.

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Observing that there have been "slippages" in time schedules and deficiencies noticed, Singh had directed that thorough probe should be held by the ministries concerned into complaints of "procedural and other irregularities" and "those found guilty should face severe and exemplary punishment".

He had instructed that all pending works should be completed expeditiously in a time-bound manner and decided to visit select venues of the Games in the last week of this month. (With PTI inputs)