Games village exposed as Indian PM set to seize control
THE full extent of the appalling conditions in the Commonwealth Games athletes' village has been revealed in photos leaked by a Games official.
The pictures, which show filthy bathrooms, animal footprints on beds and exposed wiring, emerged as the Indian Prime Minister prepared to take control of the Games.
The news came as a company providing security to Australians attending the event warned that the chances of a serious terrorist incident had increased because of a failure to "lock down" venues. The security expert warned that radical groups had abandoned mobile phone technology to avoid detection.
The Herald also understands that the Australian Commonwealth Games Association has made its own arrangements for the cleaning of the accommodation Australian athletes will use.
The Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, held crisis talks yesterday with his Sports Minister, M. S. Gill, and the Urban Development Minister, S. Jaipaul Reddy, who is chairman of a top-level ministerial supervisory group that has been criticised over its failure to ensure a smooth build-up to the Games. Despite this meeting there is continuing speculation about the participation of many teams.
The New Zealand team will delay their departure by at least two days because of the state of the village.
The Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, said attending the Games was a decision for individuals after they had considered the government's travel advice.
Although the Delhi Police Commissioner, Y. S. Dadwal, promised ''foolproof'' security, intelligence experts still believe an attack is more likely than not.
The head of one company employed to protect Australians said: ''We've changed our assessment because we've received intelligence that terror organisations are operating without cellular phones, which means assessments of their levels of 'chatter' are totally outdated."
The security expert criticised authorities for failing to cordon off venues. "Lockdown should have begun about two weeks ago, whereby search protocol is put into place for anybody entering certain important venues, but that just hasn't happened.
"Our assessment on the likelihood of an attack hasn't changed. We still think it more likely than not but we now believe there's a much greater chance of a major terrorist incident with a high number of fatalities than we thought before. It also becomes more likely that we could see a co-ordinated attack with multiple explosive devices."
Delhi's Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, visited team officials to tell them all efforts were being made to ensure the athletes' village was habitable. She has ordered about 60 top public servants to work from the village. Each will have responsibility for a single accommodation block and powers to cut through red tape.
Mike Hooper, the chief executive of the Commonwealth Games Federation, said he noticed a positive change among the representatives of competing nations yesterday. "There was definitely a mood change this morning at the chefs de mission meeting,'' he said. "There are still lots of issues to address but it's clear the right level of resources are being made available and Sheila Dikshit's team are being seen to get things done. It's a shame it didn't happen before.''
But Hooper's request that the federation's president, Michael Fennell, meet Dr Singh has yet to be granted. Fennell, who was expected to arrive in India last night, is due to meet the top public servant today.
Mike Keelan, the acting chief executive of the Australian Weightlifting Federation, said that after talking to the association's chief executive, Perry Crosswhite, he was satisfied the village would be fine.
The three towers where the Australian team would stay were ''a little bit dirty'' but contract cleaners the association had brought in had left them pristine, Keelan said. He said Crosswhite had reassured him the weightlifting venue was safe despite its ceiling collapsing this week.
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