CWG success is not any individual credit: Sheila Dikshit

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, relieved after a smooth completion of the Commonwealth Games, said no individual can take the credit of the Games? success.

?It’s not about individuals taking credits. I tell you very frankly this is not an individual’s credit. The cleaning staff that cleaned up the staircase and kept the corridors cleaned or the engineer who looked after the stadia,? she told NDTV in an exclusive interview Friday night.

Asked if she deserved the credit for turning things around in the last days, Sheila Dikshit said: ?Certainly not. What would I have done alone? What could anybody do alone? What was lacking was a team spirit, a collective spirit, once that came, everything turned around.?

She said she was feeling relieved almost after years with the successful completion of the Games.

She said no one can get away with corruption and the Prime Minister and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi have assured that.

“We have enormous institutions in the Government. Corruption cannot get away,” she said.

She said ahead of the Games she found that the international area in the Village was perfectly alright, ?but it was the living area, the quarters, which were appalling.?

Asked if things were in absolute mess before the last four-five days, she admitted:

?Yes, living quarters were an absolute mess. The athletes living quarters, the bedrooms, the toilets had water all over them.?

?The basement was full of water, which meant the mosquito breeding. Then out of the 38 or 37 towers, 34 lifts were not working. So how do you expect people to go up and down? The corridors were dirty, it was stinking, it was terrible.?

Dikshit said India must learn from the experience.

“We must learn a lesson from this, but we have successfully conducted the second largest sporting event after the Olympics.

?I am confident that we can hold the Olympics but that is up to the Government to decide. I’ll be happy if Delhi holds the Olympics, but I’ll not be there,” Sheila told the channel.

A panel headed by a former Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) would probe the organising of the just-concluded Commonwealth Games amid indications that heads might roll if the corruption charges were proved.

The Prime Minister’s Office has confirmed that former CAG V K Shungloo will head the probe panel and submit its report within three months.

Reports said another government probe would also be ordered into the corruption charges.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said the probes should not be symbolic.

A Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) audit would also start in the Games.

While the Games concluded successfully and without any untoward incident and the foreign guests departed with a feel-good taste of Indian culture and hospitality, the shame the country was subjected to ahead of the Games was not forgotten.