Click to play videoNew Delhi: The CAG report on the Commonwealth Games has also pointed out serious lapses in the organisation of the the opening and closing ceremonies. It says that there were delays in the planning stage and that the competition track had major shortcomings.
It was a world class opening ceremony which managed to somewhat mend the rising apprehensions in the months leading up to CWG 2010. But behind the glamour and the fireworks, there are several burning questions that the CAG raised.
The first one of them being the massive delays during the planning stage. The creative concepts for the opening and the closing ceremonies were delayed by a year and two months, presented only in September and December 2009.
The out of turn awarding of contracts to multiple agencies with similar responsibilities led to confusion and most importantly extra expenditure.
Bharat Bala was the Creative Director, Spectac Productions led by Ric Birch was the international consultant and Wizcraft was the Event Management firm.
One of the biggest visual attractions was the massive aerostat which later even came under the CBI scanner. The CAG has also not spared it in its report.
Ric Birch of Spectac Productions recommended the contract for the aerostat to be given to K- Events, which he claimed was the only respondent after surveying 51 companies. He even falsely claimed that he had no corporate relationship with them. But later the CAG found that K-Events was part of the same group that Birch's Spectac too was a part of. Undue benefits worth Rs 1.13 crore for travel and accommodation were awarded to K-Events.
It may have been a magical display of fireworks, but the CAG found that the pyrotechnic supplier Howard and Sons was selected through a limited tender after recommendations again from Birch.
Irregularities have been found even in the awarding of the lighting and searchlight contract to the Belgian company PRG at Rs 15.75 crore. They got the contract by extending the last date of submission. More deserving companies were disqualified on the basis of faulty evaluation techniques. What is worse is that a whopping Rs 1.37 crore was paid to PRG for damages even though risk insurance was PRG's liability. PRG took as many as 136 flights free of cost. The contract clearly mentioned that only 60 should have been allowed.
The CAG found that props worth Rs 3.09 crore for the closing ceremony and for the opening ceremony remained unused, and the real shocker is that props worth Rs 2.38 crore were not even received. This will be a report difficult to defend for those in power.
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