CWG as its popularly known now to residents of Delhi, who gape, grumble and gasp as the preparation leaves a big question mark in their minds, was the disruption of their life worth this exercise?

Any development tends to disrupt life in the short run only to bring greater comfort in the long run. This is clearly evidenced by the fact that METRO has enormously changed the life of people in Delhi. Distances have become shorter and it has leveled people across any section of society. There are stories of people traveling in Mercedes E class and S class and BMWs, parking their showpieces near a metro station, to catch a train to go to chandini chowk, still the connoisseurs shopping delight or eatery delicacy.

Likewise, it's widely hoped that CWG will transform life drastically with world class urban infrastructure in place in the now throbbing capital city of New Delhi.

Numerous flyovers, wide expansion of the METRO network, more number of hotels and service apartments , etc are being executed at frenetic pace to meet the deadline and be ready to be used and occupied, even citizens trudge through the civil work debris and dust that has been kicked up. Hospitals reported more number of asthma cases in the city during the last six to eight months when CWG work took full speed.
The question bugging the games organizers, though in public they exude confidence, is will all the facilities be completed in time. CWG has brought into focus the value of public private partnership in executing infrastructure projects.

Lets look at the most important showpiece of CWG. The ultra modern airport of Indira Gandhi International Airport. The airport has been under up gradation at several stages over the last few years. The feather in the cap of GMR, a little known Andhra company based out of Bangalore dealing essentially in irrigation and power projects, is the construction of the T-3 terminal, claimed to be the among the 10 best airports in the world.

Its dimensions are humungous, never seen before for a country like India. It can handle 34 million passengers. It has hundreds of check in counters, hundreds of escalators, so many dock in bridges for aircraft, and ultra modern check in of baggage and passengers, and host of fast food joints besides, a small star hotel to accommodate transit passengers. Much bigger facilities are being planned as part of the expansion of the indiara Gandhi international airport.

The T-3 terminal has already been thrown up to international passengers. What about domestic? Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel tension made it clear that it will not be until a) the state electricity board guarantees uninterrupted power which is still being worked out 2) the Delhi jal board assures supply of the gigantic water needs of the airport and 3) the METRO rail zooms into the T-3 terminal, it will be one few airports in the world to have this facility.
METRO has panned a near 20 km fast track train that starts from New Delhi railways station to the METRO central Hub , Connaught Place or Rajiv Chowk, straight into the airport at 80 kms per hour non stop ( a brief halt at moti bagh), at a tariff reportedly of rs 150 per passenger. Passengers would be able to check in their luggage at special airline counters at both New Delhi Rly station and Rajiv Chowk.

But tension still mounts here as airlines are having a dispute with one of the subsidiary companies of the Reliance group which is the franchisee for setting up these facilities. Airlines have contested the high tariffs quoted by the franchisee even as they like to assess how much of these facilities would actually be used by passengers.

With traffic chaos at near the airport mounting day by day as the number of incoming and outgoing flights increase to clear urban traffic, it is anybody's guess that a large number of people would prefer to reach the airport in 18 minutes instead of 95 minutes.

World class stadia have been built by private contractors even as a lot of dust is kicked about on pricing of these projects, giving rise to suspicion that there are large kickbacks. At the centre of the controversy is Mr. Suresh Kalmadi, the games organizing committee chairman and prominent political leader. in charge of organizing the 2010 Commonwealth Games. As the media and public watch dogs mount pressure on accountability and ethics, he stands to lose top officials over corruption and shoddy work.

Some of the works like flyovers and some stadia have reportedly been passed with fake clearance certificates which are now under investigation by the competent authorities. Some of the stadia have reported seepage and leaks.
Among all this din, the Delhi Chief Minister, Mrs. Sheila Dikshit, who is loved by the Delhi's citizens for her non controversial political stature and ability to do bring about change in the city's life styles, confesses she is nervous about the games being readies on time , but is confident, the organizers will pull it off ultimately.

But to a n ordinary citizen, who travels daily past the various facilities, under construction, he is very nervous whether they would be readied on time and whether such facilities would the acid test of construction quality and not collapse during the events, which could bring a bad name to the nation. Thus spoiling chances of India's more ambitious plans to host the Olympics one day.
Let's take a look at the blogs that have appeared recently. Says Mihir Chattopadhyaya in a blog that appeared on wall street journal, a 2nd year ST Stephends college student wonders if Commonwealth Games represent a missed opportunity for India.

He feels that one is making a judgment on the outcome of the Games before they have even happened. I can't say that the Games will be a success but I do believe in the great Indian wedding - an event that is stressful to set up but inevitably falls into place.

The media tends to highlight some of the most negative aspects of the Games. In its excitement and zeal to sell a story it has ignored some of the most positive developments connected to the Games.
The Thyagaraj Stadium, which was unveiled on time, is a world-class, eco-friendly stadium. The Melodrama that has been constructed for these Games has been hailed as the second best in the world after the one in Beijing. The desire to hold a safe and successful event has forced the government to make a special effort to ensure the safety of New Delhi and other cities in India. After all, an attack on any city in India would be seen as an attack on the Commonwealth Games.

Ranul Dash, a IITian asks: Does it lead to the betterment of people's lives? Does it really lead to world peace? Does it signal an end for racism, sexism, classism and all the other bigotries of the human mind? Does it feed the hungry? Does it give education to the country's kids? Does it empower the country's women? Or give jobs to the unemployed? Or build widespread, sustainable infrastructure? Improve the environmental condition? Resolve internal conflicts? How about external conflicts?

Apart from the hopelessly optimistic and the absolutely naive, I do not think any of us would find the answer “no” to any of the above questions surprising.
Organized every four years, the games to be played by members of the Commonwealth of Nations are the third-largest multisport event in the world, after the Summer Olympic Games and the Asian Games.

India hopes to showcase India as a new economic player on the world stage. Instead, the games have pitch forked the country into issues such as corruption and the country's struggle to build infrastructure efficiently - a contrast to neighbor China which did everything silently to host the Olympics - of course the difference between communist administration and democratic institutions comes into play here.

New Delhi still remains a city torn apart by construction in a desperate bid to finish ambitious building and beautification projects before the games begin in October. The treasurer for the games, Anil Khanna, has resigned amid allegations of nepotism in contracting.

Though Mr. Khanna has denied any involvement in the granting of the contract, a firm whose Indian branch is headed by Hanna's son was awarded the contract to resurface the tennis stadium. Indian tennis players have complained about the synthetic surfacing.

The government's Central Vigilance Commission reports found that found last-minute rushing has led to overspending and shoddy work.
Almost all the organizations executing works for Common Wealth Games have come under the scanner for jack-up in prices but justify award of work at quoted rates citing urgent/emergent circumstances. Despite higher rates poor site management, delays and quality compromises have been observed.
Among the report's most alarming findings, concrete core samples failed to meet strength requirements and revealed lower cement content “than prescribed and recorded to have been used.” The report also described anticorrosive treatment on reinforced steel as poor, coming off “even with a mild rubbing with hands.”

Answering questions in Parliament, India's sports minister, M.S. Gill, said of the stadium venues, “What is there to examine? Nothing is ready,” but added: “Have faith in India. India will get there.”
Hope India comes unscathed after the games.