It was 13th November, 2003 in Jamaica; when Commonwealth Games Federation took the decision on the basis of an election process that INDIA will host commonwealth games 2010. It came off as a surprise to the Indians that after 7 years, common wealth will be held in Delhi. Indians knew it very well that we were not ready for this. But we believe in “athithi devo bhava” and so we held our hands together towards making Delhi the best host ever. There were a lot of preparations to be made.
The first agenda was to improve our public transportation system. And as we can see, metro came to us as a surprise. Nobody could expect metro running through almost all parts of Delhi (even places like chandni chowk!!). Metro helped people with convenience and so a lot of people preferred commuting daily to their offices, etc by metro. But the volume of people travelling through metro is enormous. Less availability of the trains is making the situation even worse. New projects coming up in gurgaon, airport, etc cannot start until we have adequate supply of the trains to meet the need.
Even the BRT corridors, made in order to provide buses proper routes to travel, remained to be of no use. They instead gave rise to traffic jams in that area. Several flyovers are under construction. Construction of these flyovers has made those areas more prone to traffic. In short, all efforts to control traffic in Delhi go unnoticed. I have serious apprehensions as to whether the flyovers will be done before 2010 commonwealth.
No offences to the government who is working hard towards being a good host but what I fear is that the budget of the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games has touched Rs.5165 crores ($11.53 billion). And these 5165 crores won’t come from anywhere but the public. so judicious use of the funds should be the priority.
But to look at the bright side; In spite of several problems lingering around, Delhi looks great and ready to go!! With the metro, new flyovers coming up, wider roads, welcoming people; green Delhi would definitely leave a mark behind on the time stamp.
HAPPY COMMONWEALTH!!
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