CWG: CAG blames PMO and CMO

The CAG blamed Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit’s government for ineffective planning and lack of integrated perspective in preparing for the Games that triggered unwarranted delays,which ultimately bled the public exchequer.

“In the model of governance adopted for CWG-2010,authority was dissipated,accountability was diffused and unity of command was not provided for or followed,” the CAG report states.

In her first reaction to the report,Dikshit told reporters: “All I can assure you that when the CAG report goes to the PAC,in accordance with the well-established practice,whatever departments are asked to come before the PAC and answer any query that the members of PAC may want to be answered,we will cooperate with them completely and fully.”

Summing up what it called was the “modus operandi” of conducting the Games,the CAG concludes that “inexplicable delays in decision making” put pressure on timelines and thereby created an “artificial or consciously created sense of urgency”.

“Since the target date was immovable,such delays could only be overcome by seeking,and liberally granting,waivers to laid down government procedures… this could indeed have even been an intended objective,” the report states.

The government made the Games the “property of the nation”,the CAG report states,by making a commitment to bear any gap between the revenue earned from and the expenditure incurred on the event,a promise no other bidding country offered as unconditionally.

In view of the stakes,it was essential to keep the stewardship of the Games under full government control,according to the CAG,a prerequisite the government leadership starting right from the PMO failed to ensure.

The late Sunil Dutt,as Sports and Youth Affairs Minister in 2004,had pointed out that making the Organising Committee (OC) a non-government body and appointing Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi as its chairman was a violation of the bid on which Delhi bagged the contract to host the Games.

“These objections were ignored,and Shri Kalmadi’s views prevailed… the decision to appoint Shri Kalmadi as the OC Chairman,based on a PMO recommendation,facilitated the conversion of the originally envisaged government-owned OC into a body outside governmental control,” the CAG report states.

This structural change was made without commensurate accountability to the government and concomitant controls to ensuring propriety and transparency,according to the CAG.

“It was misplaced confidence to have placed such huge public funds at the disposal of non-government officials,who were not willing to heed to any advice from informed government officials,” the report states.

The auditor further pointed out the absence of a single point of authority and accountability,and a lack of clear governance structure,triggered creation of multiple coordination committees.

“This approach was not methodical,consistent and effective,and also led to complete diffusion of accountability,” the CAG report states.

The report further points out the government had to eventually appoint 10 senior officers just two months before the Games to coordinate and take immediate decisions for each competition venue.

The CAG faulted Dikshit’s governance essentially for lack of clarity,delay in preparations and ad hoc planning and works implementation.

The Delhi government had in December 2006 made a presentation on preparedness to the Committee of Secretaries,which it pegged as a comprehensive city development plan for the Games.

In its report,the CAG states it could at best be called “an approach to an infrastructure development plan,without the necessary level of detail and rigour”.