[Reader-list] CWG organisers spend Rs 29 lakh on snacks

[Pawan Durani]

And the games havent begun yet


http://ibnlive.in.com/news/cwg-organisers-spend-rs-29-lakh-on-snacks/113123-3.html?from=blaze

New Delhi: The Commonwealth Games Organising Committee has some sort
of a Midas touch: Everything it touches becomes more expensive.
The cost of constructing the venues for the Games has already gone up
250 per cent, from Rs 1,000 crore to over 2,400 crore. And the final
accounting has not been completed as yet.

Information provided by the Organising Committee of the Commonwealth
Games under the Right to Information Act now reveals that the
committee is a willing participant in this cost escalation.
The committee has spent an eye-popping Rs 29.29 lakh on snacks served
at meetings to review ongoing projects.
The committee headed by Suresh Kalmadi has so far convened 57 meetings
and an expenditure of Rs 29.29 lakh was incurred on "snacks and other
items" in connection with these meetings, the RTI reply states.
This is part of the information supplied by the Committee to RTI
applicant Abhishek Shukla.
For example, a sum of Rs 6 lakh was spent on the first broadcasters'
meet. This meeting was attended by about 100 participants.
Another sum of Rs 1.75 lakh was spent by the organising committee on
snacks and refreshments for a one-day meeting of the Executive Board.
At first, junior officials of the Ministry rejected the application
saying it had no information. But senior officials directed that the
information be supplied to the applicant. The application was then
transferred to the organising committee which sent the reply.
The whole process took nearly five months even though the statute
mandates a maximum period of one month.
The Commonwealth Games are scheduled to be held in New Delhi between
October 3-14 this year.