Mani Shankar red flags about Kalmadi by Moneylife Digital

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number of athletes and 'officials expected for .CWG, came lounder, Rs,200 crore,

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. expenditur,ehave topped Rs.20;000crore! . '

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3. .: While 1 glad rePori that arrangements {or the-physical infrastru~l1Ireare

.' well underway and ,Wecan confidently,' expect all the infrastructure to be completed

' weltintinie for the Games in October 2010, my Ministry.has failed to establish a

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.international consultant at a,c()st ofRs.1,5-2crore!Unsurprisingly, Hooper has .been' converted, overnight as it were, from a trenchant critic of our arrangements to an avid

enthusiast!

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'2.. A recentexampleofthisprofligacyisthy contract signedwith.Mike Hooper, a

"'syrving officialof'ilieComrnonwealiliGames Federation.Ito appoint'hirii'asan

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'~~.' .•. ••. ' .•.'., '.'. .•. ,•.•',". gen~inelycoopenltiv.e workingrelatiom;hip with the Organising Committee. This has

happened despite my personal decision to not operationalise the Apex COmmittee

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pex.c ...•q.mrn.itte.,e a.. t.·. '. /~\' 'f·.. '. t~emeetmg .m ~ugtl?t 2006 conven~d at your level. I th~ughtlf I ~eptout of t~e' ..

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·()5J.~omnllttee~d tile ~xequtlve ~oard.ofthe?rgamsmg Commlttee,per~o.naht~clash~s··

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. ".()i~. ~.\t)COU.I .:d.". b.eav.o.id. ed-Bu•. t.:a.b.u...se. ~."dsc.orn.cont.ll1U~.toblce. . h.eaped... at.t. h..~. Ml.mstrylll .• p.. U.b...h. . ");. statements made by the Chairman who stoops ~9 low as to describeusas.vcartoons'

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.4:'- ': 'Suchoffensive laIiguagewouldrtoLhavematteredifat leastthereweresome' , understanding,' of:6ep'eral,~ Financial' Rules and Gove,rnmertt of Irtdiaproceduresin asking f()rever-escarating~U1TIsofmoney, usuallywith 'tlo'detailed~~planationarid,.: when s'uch'eXPI~atio,I1S,areiIlsiste,don,~UPP1ie~with muchrese~tmentandafteFlong, 'delays. Finding thateyel1thepresence of-a.meretwo Secretaries to the Ciovenunentof , , 'India 'in,the Executivi.Board is an impediment ,the'vlliually 'dlctatorialfunctioriing , , . ,of the Chairman, he isincreasirigly .resortingto, establishing sub-committees oftlIe .,E}{ecutive :Board which' exclude,tl1e Government nominees, take deCisions,endorsed,." ' by the Chairman alone and ~ith()~tr~ferringev~nthe~inutes:tothe Ministry. If I' may mix my metaphors, t4e Chairman.sees theMini~tryasamilch, cow toextract as mtrch money as<hecanand'arubber:'stamp toendorse every' spendingdeclsionhe 'takes, however outrageous. poM meetings are hardlycon,st(Uctive be~auseOf the ,stand-off between ,the 'QC' .chairman and ' the Ministry , which 'has" unfortunately , 'b~comea standardfeatlJreofthe,oftenacriI11onious proceedings. " ' ' ',

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In my humbleview, and onthe basis of nearly twoYearsofclosety monitoring developments, I am persuaded, that. whereas", thanks totheagencies concerned, t~e physical infrastructure will up as scheduled and will substantially meet exacting international quality requirelllerits, the organisation of the Garnes inal1' economic, efficientand tasteful manner' cannot be assured with the present 'organisational . structure. ' 6.

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7.' ' .I have, therefore.consultedthe recordandspoken to Sardar Bum Singh,who;', as you might remell1ber; was Minister of State for Sports during the run-up to tlie Asian Games· 1982. " 'RajaBhali~derSinghwas th~nthe President o(theIndiaii ' Olympic Association. ' '" '," . ." , '." '. .During Raja,Bhalindet'sPresidentship" there were three ,suc~essiYe' Chaifp~rsohs' oftheSpeci~l Orgal}ising ,Committee. (SOC) for the Asi~n. Games: " S/Shti Vjjay Malhotra; VC Shukla and, finally, Sardar Buta.Singh, 'Under all three; " • the JOAPresident served on tre Organising Committee as ,a special invitee and did not hlllls~lf .head the Commitree.vMereover, 'the ,SOC,headed by the Minister in charge, wasgivenagre~t deal of'financial and organisational autonomy. -Tlie supervisory role for¢W9,2010givento GaM, whichmeets 'but spOradically,is:a departure, fr61ll" the. more, :succesSful model adopted for the Asian', Gaines, 1984, 8. "

.....·M~re~ver, tl\e.s9Cfol{r{e~~il!1' {;Fescontained"J~n;"".er<ofProminentan~ . . . ....,. influential public·personaliti~s;includingShri Raj ivGandhi, then a-back-bench MP, . and other prominent p~tsonqlitiessuchas S/Shri:(\run Nehru and ArunSingh,and . -:wa$pa9kedwithseniofci~iCs~r\'cCU1ts capable oftaking decisionswithinthe Rules and i~Pleineii~ingtb~~expediti(;usly.\ TheAsian Games1982,'univers~lly'applauded as · .. afi}nitstanding su~cess~(>ost the'e}(~hequertmder Rsj5cl"ore.· .

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,9.' ofrecasting the for cwo. 201OapcfitsExecuthreBoetrd.· IkribW thatthishas to be done keepillgin Yie",the . 'provisionsof the QlympicChartet: But as no one -suggested.that.theorganisatienal structure forthe.AsianCJ~es J982 was in transgression of the OlyhlpiGChartet,. · perhapsthat'istheprecedentfor us to bearin mind. . ., 10;

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...Iamfaft()Q,occupied:\\lith·my.multifarioGs Ministerial responsibilitiestooffer •. Iny~elfasChairlnqn ofthe()rganisingCorilI~ittee for :'CWG201 O.~,$utl~()~lq., sU9ge,~t:th~~aMinister~fState.Jor '1Ilt:fIlational~p()rtiAgFv~Ilts'b~ qppointed'frolP" -: ...' alll()ngst-Quryo~g~rMPsto;tClke . ()Yer:::~s:Chaiffil~of 'a. r~~'!JllpedE~ecvtiveBoard · oCarejiggedOrganisin9donuni~ee.and thusens~re that theorganis,ation ofth:p · Galllesis deliveredeconomically, efficiently and with good taste,'J thiIlK·theMiriistet .. forYoutll Affai~sandSP()rtS.:Sho4kl',keephimselfdistanc~d f rom theday-to-day'

workoftheGames'and\oriUnehimself'tomajordecisionsofa policy ofopefationaI

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· 11. L'shouldbe grateful tobe.afforded an opportunity to discuss 'these suggestions · with the pfime Ministerathis earliest convenience.

. Yours sincerely,

Dr Manr1()h~ Singh Prime Minister " Prime Minister's office · South Block New Delhi-l l'O 011 .

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MANISHANKAR AIYAR

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Panchayati Raj, Youth Affairs & Sports.arid Development Of the North Eastern Regio\l .Governmentoflndia

New Delhi-110 001

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At 5.00 pm day-after-tomorrow, Thursday, 25 October, the Prime Minister has

convened a meeting to review the arrangements for the Commonwealth Games. This is

the first review at his level after a lapse of over a year.

2. My officers have done all they can to alert Government, specifically the Cabinet

Secretariat and PMO, to a number of'ourextremely serious concerns which have only

been mounting Over the pastyear.J fear that ifthese concerns are not met in the meeting

day- after-tomorrow, we mayfindourselves irretrievab2J damaged. .

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3. My primary concern' is that; in sharp distinction to the structure of the Special

Organising Committee for the Asian Games, 1982, which was chaired by the Minister of

State for Sports, Sardar Buta Singh, and packed with Government Ministers, MPs and

Government officials, the Executive Committee for the Commonwealth Games 2010,

chaired bySureshKalrnadi, has no Government Ministers, just one back-bench MP and 'iIh only two Government Secretaries, and they too lack veto powers; almost all decisions are

taken in the committees of the Executive Board that do not include these Government officials; and the Executive.Board dD~S not report the decisions of these committees to

the Ministry of Youth. Affairsand Sports. In consequence, money is bein gs quandered'11

' such as, appointing Mike Hooper or the Cornmonwealth'rGames Federation as an •.' in~eniational consultant with 'mo?thlyfirst:c1ass air ?assage.s, for. him, an.d sometimes ~is ,I' Wife, between London and Delhianda farm-house In Deihl to live In with scores of aIr~ conditioners, at a totale~. timated' cost." of some Rs. 2 crore! Other international consultants have been appointed at a cost of up to $ 5,000 per day.

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-ti•. j4 Also, unlike the Special Organising Committee of the Asian Garnes, 1982 which . ~ had a .large number ofdis'tinguishedlmd powerful public-minded representatives, r~tr~ inciluding Shri. ~ajivGand~i,t~en aback-b.ench MP, to guide the Executive Board, the t ~ pre\se,.nt organ,.Is l, ng comm,ltte.e IS pack"e.dW.I.t.h,. y.e.s. -em.e.n (and a fe.w yes-w.omen) and has.•. ..' ~'t !J.oone with any influence on the Executive' Board or its Committees to press an alternative opinion, leaving the Chairman with virtually dictatorial powers. Without a /- ~ dra~tic overhaul of both the Executive Board and Organising Committee for the c:::::'2} Colnmonwealth Games, I fear it will prove to be practically impossible for the ,"'2<;\'/ Go~ernment to significantly address the excesses of Chairman Suresh Kalmadi and his ~ coHorts. '

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5. Moreover, the direct and indirect costs of CWG have already soared to over Rs. 20,000 crore! The total expenditure on the Asian Games 1982 was ofthe order of Rs. 55 crare. Otempora! Omores! 6. My Ministry has suggested three alternatives of dealing with the situation, any one of which could retrieve the .situation even at this juncture: (a) Since Chairman Kalrnadi insistently maintains that Commonwealth Games revenues will substantially exceed expenditures by the Organising Committee, he may be invited to take. his 'bankable' . propositions to financial institutions or . . commercial banks and raise the required finances路from the market.thus releasing the Government of any expenditure on the Organising Committee and. any responsibility to Parliament for the antics of its Executive Board. Or: (b) A Minister of State for International Sporting Events may be appointed Chairman of the Organising Committee with anadeguate number of Government nominees on the Executive Board, including influential sports-minded back-bench MPs, with the. power of veto over inappropriate decisions taken by the Boardorany of its committees. And: (c) Recasting the Organising Committee and the Executive Board for the Commonwealth Games to conform to the pattern that was so successfully evolved for the Asian Games 1982. 6. Ifat all possible, I would; appreciate an opportunity to meet Madam on Thursday,路 25 October in the forenoon to discuss with her the line I should be taking in the Prime Minister's meeting in the afternoon ofthe same day. Yours sincerely, Shri Pulok Chatterji Additional Secretary Prime Minister's Office South Block New Delhi

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.PRIME MINISTER'S.OFFICE .

NeW Delhi__ J10101· .

. -PleasefindeilCl()sedcopi~sof two 'lettersdat~d23rd'October'and25~h. ···'October,. 2007,fro1J1:ShrjM~iShanka~ Aiyar,:Millister()f J>(lnchay~lt(R.aj,. Youth' Affairs & . Sports ami Development of. the -North EasterpJ~egi91l,' .·regarding theorganizationalj;tt!lcture for Commonwealth Games 2010.

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Dated: 02.' 1.2007

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..A meeting 0 ftheCornmonwealthSports Ministers has. been-scheduled in Melbourne on Tuesday, 14 March on the eve of the commencement of the . Commonwealth Games. . . . . . .,

While I had earlier;started making preparations to participate in the meeting, in view of .the revised . Parliamentary programme 'and: y'our instructions regarding being present at' .Headquartersvduring Parliament. .: sessions, lam planning not. to attend.ltnist this would be in order. lam troubling you. on this point tIlls morning because the Australian Prime Minister is in town and the question . might arise .when I attend" your . dinner in his honour this evening: . . y ours.sincerely;

'[)r,Marllllohan Singh '

.\ Hou'ble Prime Minister' .

\SQuth Block

New-Delhi

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Iwrite to seek a meeting with you to discuss the gargantuailgap ~. \kif.... .~. between the 'expendlture projections given. in the 2003 Note for Cabinet ~ ~~~.~ on the basis Of which. approval was accorded for ~s to bid for the '~ '. . Commonwealth ,Games~2Q10 and the present projected figures of r».... \.~. expenditure. The gap isnotonlygargantuan, it also seems to be growing; .~~.~ .: , e,cte.d,.' Y . a ..ga.lnst t.h,.e ...figur:. O . • . c,.r.o,re., fO,r . . Ph. s.icaI . in • . fras.tr.uct. . u.r.e p,ro,1 i~ . ~ . . '~\'In 2003,currentestlmates have been rall1ped up to over Rs.5000crore; 0 .'. . . '.., .. . .•... , .'t",) . on the ,organizatio.n.. or t., he,. g.a.mes, .t.. he 200,3 exp.,e,nditL,~.lre p.rojection~Qf ~ .: if~'~·.' . . RS.250,crorehasalreadybeen rampeduPtonearIYRs.900~ ,'~' ~ . ~ ~,~

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f~ RS,~.150.~.'.

-. After the formation of ourGovernment,Cabinet sanction has also

been accorded for, us tabid for the Asian Games 2014 onThe basis of the ~

~ relativelv mode!:itexpenditure projection whichwi3sgivenin the Note for

. Cabinet However, going by the experience of the CbmmonwealthGames, .

.: and, previoussuch rn~ga?ports events, rappr~hend that wewill'onte.

agairiwitness a ' ar antuan a between . ro'ected.· and actual

expenditl.l ~ ndeed, :theprospective bid for the Asian Games is being

,~ .uCSed ~ to jUstify. the vast. 9i;lP between ~ earller and present projections for ,'~ .

~'.'~ the Commonwealth Garnes: There seems to be a desire alsoto build upa I' 'cqmpaign for the QlympicGames,even perhaps as early as 2016. All .•

. these a, m.b,.itiOriS ar.ej.Ele.d.!n. g Oil ,each other to jUstify·ane)(penditure·of .. tens of thousandsofcrores of rupees.,

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.Iwould tlke todlscuss withyouthe ethics ofern.!:>arkihg'on sucha' course.

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. Perhaps .large-scale .expendlture on DelhH:entric., sports events

which haveanessentlallv middle class appeal could-rest' easier on our" ~ conscience if there werea'sorresponding scherneto meet the, crYing need

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for sports facilities ln the r:urql areas which I have personally experienced both as a constituency MP. and as Minister of Panchayati Raj. J would, therefore,also wish to discuss with you,in the context of expendltureon the Commonwealth Games,a proposal.I am formulating for a Panchayat .' Khel-Khud Abhiyan. ,~ . .... . ... .. ,

I should be grateful if you would kindly find a few minutes in your extremely busy schedule for me to secure your personal gUidance on these matters. .

.t, ~..\A.-. ~•• Dr.ManrnohanSingh.

Hori'bte Prime Minister

. South Block NewDelhi.:

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Yours sincerely,