Fahey, a former Australian finance minister, took charge of WADA in January following the retirement of former president Dick Pound after six year’s in office. “There has been very little communication from India, much below our expectation,” said David Howman, the director general of WADA, who had led a three-member delegation to New Delhi in October last year. “We want NADA to be operational soon. It’s not enough that you have a structure in place; it has to be backed by an operational programme. All that is required is strong co-ordination between stakeholders and we hope it works out sooner than later,” added Howman.

The WADA director general will visit India again to assess the progress during the Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune later this year.

“India has to take the initiative. We are just a supporting agency. It is not a criticism, it’s just the truth,” he said. “We have made our expectations very clear to them, and the Youth Games is the big opportunity for India. We hope we would not be disappointed,” he added.

On the other hand, Howman was pleased with the rapid strides taken by the anti-doping laboratory in its bid to get accreditation from the global body. “The accreditation process for the anti-doping laboratory in New Delhi is well on its way. The mandatory testing is on, and if they pass all the stages, the accreditation should not take more than three-four months,” added Howman.

The WADA president said one of his top priorities would be to put pressure on governments that had not yet ratified the UNESCO convention against doping in sport.

Of the 191 countries that agreed to ratify the convention at the 2003 world conference on doping in Copenhagen, only 77 have so far done so.

“We need universal ratification of the UNESCO convention because it would give the anti-doping movement the tools required to tackle some of the major issues which are outside the purview of the sporting movement,” Fahey said.

“Without government support we cannot address many issues at national level, including the production, possession and distribution of banned substances. The sad reality is that many governments are yet to outlaw such practices.”

Fahey, who is also the first government representative to head the anti-doping body, intends to use his influence as a former minister to garner increased support from the public authorities.

Fahey said once the revised anti-doping code comes into play from January 1, 2009, it would be impossible for the non-compliant nations to host any major international event including the Olympic Games and the World Championships.

“The revised WADA code will be implemented from January 1, 2009. But there is one little provision of ratification by December 31, 2009.

“After that it would be impossible for a non-complying nation to host any major international event,” he said.