Everything is under control: CWG OC, Jaipal Reddy

New Delhi : Putting up a brave front in the face of a foot overbridge collapse near a main venue and the slamming of the facilities and hygiene standards by participating countries, the Commonwealth Games Organizing Committee (OC) said everything would be delivered on time.

“We will deliver everything,” said Organising Committee secretary general Lalit Bhanot in a press conference on Tuesday, in what is seen as a feeble defence in the face of a gigantic embarrassment for India.

“Everything is under control,” he said.

He said the venues would get ready in the coming days and there would be more cleaning up to meet the international standards.

“A room is clean according to our standard but not according to theirs,” Bhanot said, assuring that the final cleaning up would meet the international standards.

The CWG authorities were left egg-faced on Tuesday when a foot bridge outside the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the main venue of the Games, collapsed injuring 23 people.

Earlier in the day, Mike Hooper, chief executive of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), commenting on the state of cleanliness at the Games Village said the conditions are “filthy and uninhabitable”

“These complaints (of cleanliness) would be attended to,” Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy said.

On the bridge collapse, he said “it is only a foot over bridge and Delhi has been hit by a rain of unprecedented scale.”

“The minor incident is unfortunate,” he said.

“I am absolutely confident that Games will be held in successful way,” he said, adding that things were blown out of proportion.

New Zealand is one of the countries most vocal on the cleanliness aspect.

Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) president Mike Fennell, taking serious note of the complaints made by New Zealand and Scotland regarding the filthy conditions in Games Village, asked the Organising Committee to take “quick action” in the next 24 hours to set it right before the athletes start arriving on Thursday.

In a letter written to Cabinet Secretary K.M. Chandrashekar, Fennell, who had raised concerns about the Village during his visit last month, expressed his concerns over the Village.

“I am expecting some serious action in the next 24 hours. We have been waiting for the Village to be ready before the athletes arrive but we have not seen any action so far,” Fennell said