Is Delhi ready for the Commonwealth Games? No.
If one needed to know what foul smell actually is, he/she could simply head over to the Mukarba Chowk in Delhi. Situated right at the entrance of Delhi was this huge compost plant where tonnes and tonnes of garbage lay. The stench still remains but Mukarba Chowk has undergone a metamorphosis. The broken road that was perpetually jammed by vehicles has been replaced with swanky flyovers leading to different parts of Delhi. This change is the result of the massive makeover Delhi is undergoing for the Commonwealth Games it hosts in the year 2010.
It is already the month of July and the year is 2009. Apart from a few cosmetic changes to the bus stops, new low-floored buses, the Delhi Metro, I do not see much change in the city. There is mess all around due to the construction of new roads, bridges, metro lines etc. But will they be able to clear the mess in time for the games? The city has a brand new airport and the railway station is also undergoing a makeover but the connectivity issues still remain. Travelling just 40 kms outside of Delhi to either Faridabad or Gurgaon is a serious challenge! The traffic is chaotic, there are jams everywhere and the metro is yet to reach the surrounding areas. On top of this, the auto rickshaws still do not have proper meters installed (the drivers now wear proper uniforms though).
There is also serious lack of civic sense among the residents of Delhi. The people of Delhi are unwelcoming and hostile; ready to pick a fight at the drop of a hat. The menfolk, it seems, are an extremely sexually frustrated lot. Rapes, eve-teasing, molestation are routine occurrences. The infrastructure is in shambles. Electricity and water is supplied to the people for only a few hours each day. The Yamuna, on whose banks the Commonwealth Village is being built is now a dead river comprising of industrial effluents, sewage and garbage from the city. The most concerning fact is that Delhi will be protected by those very forces that had refused to provide security for a much smaller sporting event – the IPL. Everything is being implemented in haste.
I could just go on and on pointing out the deficiencies that exist; the list is endless. But this will serve no purpose. Here, we have our government which has failed miserably to spruce up Delhi and then there was China where the entire country experienced unprecedented development before the Beijing Olympics. The clock is ticking and Delhi is unprepared. The national capital, the face of the nation, where athletes, dignitaries and tourists from different countries are headed next year, is not a modern metropolis but in fact a big, large, dirty slum. Delhi is still decades away from graduating to the next level.
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