Ways to Waste

We have put up a very poor show in preparing the ground facilities for the XIXth Commonwealth Games that will start on October 3. If the photos of the beds with pugmarks, leaking toilets and stained washbasins are genuine, I can quite assuredly say that those standards of hygiene cannot be tolerated by any human being with an iota of dignity.

Where did all the money go? Nearly 12000 crore rupees have been spent on the CWG. Results are there for all to see. The amount excludes the expenditure on non-sports infrastructure. If this is the way the government spends the money, God save us.

The supposedly 'Green games' involved cutting down of Heritage trees and the designs caused heavy environment to the damage. PILs were filed against these in the Supreme Court by the citizens of Delhi and NGOs but finally SC had to give green signal because 'much time had been lost' and 'damage to environment could not be undone.'

Again, the conditions under which the labourers are being forced to work now involves violation of human rights - low wages, scant or no safety measures and even child labour. Reports of deaths of labourers has been a characteristic of this edition of the Games.

Evacuation of slum dwellers, screening of slums using bamboo 'curtains', demolition of the homes of the poor - all to showcase to the world the 'development' that is taking place in the country. Finally, we have been exposed and our incompetence laid bare by the officials who could not even provide decent residential facilities to the honoured guests. When will we learn?

I am not even talking about the allegations of corruption. No one is even interested in it. The only goal now is to salvage the Games. Corruption has become so institutionalised that it has replaced democracy as the defining character of this nation.

Read recently that the oil PSUs will be buying airtlme from Prasar Bharti to help it meet its target for the Games. The point is, having wasted so much money on such an incompetent and apathetic machinery, why should the public tolerate further wastage by the PSUs? Do the citizens have any say in running those behemoths? Why should the hard-earned money of the citizens be so callously misused by the executive? We, the people of India, are ashamed of our government. I, as a citizen, have lost my trust in it.

To cry or not to cry

The question whether the Commonwealth Games will even be held now looms large. Even the Indians who used to be a little proud of their nation are now finding it very difficult to defend their stand. Collapsing footbridges, shootouts, reports about the filthy condition of the Games Village - what more do you need to say 'Mera Bharat Mahan'?

If that weren't enough, statements like 'Their standards of hygiene are different from ours', by an official when he was told that the Scottish officials had to scrub and wash their block to make it liveable and that the footbridge collapse was a 'minor incident' by a Union Minister puts you in a confusion - whether to cry or to laugh.

Yes fellows, India has truly arrived with the CWG. It is the epitome of the sheer apathy and the incompetence of the Government of the country. It is really a thing to marvel at - our government - you will never find one like this anywhere in the world. It doesn't even have a sense of shame about letting the country down so badly in the international arena. And where is the opposition when you need it? Why do they not even bother to raise their voice against such a heinous selling out of national prestige? Is the temple the only thing they bother about? Does the sense of pride of the citizens about this country count for nothing?

I find that Mr. Aiyar was right. I just wish we hadn't won the bid for the Games, if only to avoid this terrible shame and sense of pain I am feeling now as an Indian.

Athidhi Devo Bhava? Forget it!