Repeated sound bytes from her ministers damning the Commonwealth Games preparations has left Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit fuming. At an emergency Cabinet meeting convened on Thursday,the chief minister asked her Cabinet colleagues not to publicly criticise the Games preparation. Incidentally,the meeting was called a day after Finance Minister Dr A K Walia visited Yamuna Sports Complex and indicated to the media that work,especially at the training venue,was lagging behind. The chief minister has told the ministers to stick to their brief and make sure that they do not take the media along when they go for inspections. In case the media is present,the ministers have been told to not talk about delays or problems in the project, said a senior Delhi government official after the 10-minute meeting. This is not the first time that Dikshit has reprimanded her ministers. On June 30,the chief minister had asked them to individually monitor the Games work in their respective constituencies. Unfortunately,this plan has backfired on the chief minister herself. Finance Minister A K Walia and Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely,who were given charge of East Delhi,inspected the street-scaping work in the area and reported that the work was lagging behind. This prompted the chief minister to issue her first gagging order for her ministers. According to sources,the chief minister is essentially miffed with the tug-of-war going on between Walia and PWD Minister Rajkumar Chauhan over the projects. She has told both to bury their differences and at least pretend to show a united front, added the official. OC promotes Green GamesThe Commonwealth Games Organising Committee has launched Low Carbon Campaign,in collaboration with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Global Environment Facility (GEF). The project aims to promote the first-ever Green Games by developing activities like campaigns,trainings,plantations,awareness through concerts,low carbon fairs for students,teachers,athletes and citizens,resulting in total direct carbon dioxide emission reduction of 20,496 tonnes over the next 10 years. Sudhir Mital,the special director general looking after the programme said,We want to promote environmentally sustainable and low carbon practices like driving less,planting more trees,using renewable energy,barring plastic usage,using energy efficient lighting,computers and electric appliances.
