New Delhi, Sep 25 (IANS) Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) president Michael Fennell said Saturday that ‘damage’ has been done to India’s image and hoped that lessons have been ‘learnt’ from the controversies surrounding the Oct 3-14 Games preparations.
‘A lot of damage has been done to India. People are asking: ‘Should we come to India?’ India is the largest Commonwealth country. At the end of this all, India would have learnt a lesson. And we have also learnt our lessons working with a country like India,’ Fennell said to a packed press conference at the Main Press Centre of the Commonwealth Games.
‘We all have to share the blame. We will work together to see that everything falls in place. Yes, we all have had problems. We will be overcoming these problems. On hindsight, a number of these things could have been avoided. We have to take necessary corrective measures.’
Asked about the CGF monitoring the whole process, Fennell said that time and again they had raised the issue with the Organising Committee (OC), pointing out the areas of concern that need urgent attention.
‘The co-ordination commission was meeting every six months and last year the CGF had reminded the OC that lot of work needed to be done and done urgently. We had been saying all along that a lot of work had to be done still,’ he said.
Fennell also said he was happy with the efforts put in the last couple of days and hoped that India will be able to pull it off. ‘Considerable progress has been made since the prime minister has asked the Cabinet Secretary to look into it.’
‘But there are concerns which remain, mainly related to cleanliness,’ he said.
Saying that the press conference was called particularly because of the media coverage of the problems, Fennell remarked that the work could have been done earlier.
‘What is clear is that the massive amount of work being done now ought to have been done before. What we are concentrating on now is to get it ready so that the teams can enjoy best comforts,’ he said.
Fennel, however, added that the blame was to be ‘shared’.
Pointing out at the concerns expressed by the mission chiefs, he outlined that a series of work including transport, security arrangements, fire safety and technological problems like Wi-Fi connections still remained to be resolved.
He also thanked the chef de missions for their feedback and for the dedication in bringing their teams.
Fennell lauded the food arrangements and the international centre at the village.
‘The international centre is finished and in good shape. The food is excellent which is very important for preparing athletes.’
He added said a detailed inspection report will be given to him by Saturday evening and he will be visiting the Village to personally inspect it.
‘We will closely monitor the situation,’ he added.
