NEW DELHI: On a day when an official US report ranked India as the third most powerful nation on earth, a foot overbridge near the showpiece stadium of the Commonwealth Games came crashing down, injuring 27 workers and casting a long shadow over the world’s third-largest multi-sports event, due in 11 days.
On Tuesday, the run-up to the games appeared battered, with terror threats, a worsening flood situation in north India, rising number of dengue cases, withdrawing athletes, and foreign delegations slamming the games village as “unfit for human inhabitation”. All of this is amidst pervasive anxiety over an impending Lucknow High Court verdict over the politically charged Ayodhya issue, expected on Friday.
Authorities maintained a brave face, even as foreign delegations as well as top officials of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), sharply criticised the state of the games village. “The condition of the residential zone has shocked the majority of Commonwealth Games Associations that are in Delhi,” Commonwealth Games Federation president Michael Fennell said. His deputy Mike Hooper said the “towers for the athletes are filthy and unliveable”.
SOURCE: Economic Times, 22 Sept., 2010 (Read full report at http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/27-hurt-as-footbridge-falls-near-Commonwealth-Games-venue/articleshow/6603875.cms)
