Delhi Games village 'unfit for athletes'
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Sanjoy Majumder explains the problems with the athletes' village
The Commonwealth Games Federation head has demanded the Indian government take immediate steps to improve conditions at the athletes' village in Delhi.
Team delegates have described the accommodation as filthy, unhygienic and unfit for human habitation.
But organisers of the event, which runs from 3 to 14 October, said the facilities would be excellent.
Meanwhile, police said 23 labourers were injured as a bridge being built near the main Games venue collapsed.
“Start Quote
End Quote Soutik Biswas BBC Delhi online correspondentClearly, the 'Indian way' hasn't worked - and the Games are turning out to be India's bonfire of vanities”
It is the latest setback to an event plagued by construction delays, allegations of corruption and a dengue fever outbreak in the Indian capital.
New Zealand, Scotland, Canada and Northern Ireland have demanded their teams be put up in hotels if their accommodation is not ready.
Michael Fennell, the Commonwealth Games Federation president, said he had written to the Indian cabinet secretary urging immediate action.
He said "many issues remain unresolved" and the athletes' village was "seriously compromised".
Although team officials had been impressed with the international zone and main dining area, he continued, they had been "shocked" by the state of the accommodation itself.
"The village is the cornerstone of any Games and the athletes deserve the best possible environment to prepare for their competition," Mr Fennell added.
Indian media is reporting that only 18 of 34 residential towers at the village are complete.
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The overhead bridge was to connect the car park with the main stadium
Two days before the village officially opens to the first of 7,000 athletes and officials, New Zealand chef de mission Dave Currie suggested the Games might even be cancelled.
He said toilets in the accommodation were leaking and did not flush, and there were piles of building debris in bathrooms.
Mr Currie told New Zealand commercial radio on Tuesday: "If the village is not ready and athletes can't come, obviously the implications of that are that it's not going to happen.
"It's pretty grim really and certainly disappointing when you consider the amount of time they had to prepare."
Analysis
The Games village - made up of several blocks of high-rise luxury flats for the athletes who are due to begin arriving on Friday - was meant to be the event's showpiece.
The chief of the organising committee, Suresh Kalmadi, had said it would be better than the village at the Beijing Olympics.
Now his words are coming back to haunt him. Advance teams have described the state of the flats as shocking.
The village itself has been built on the banks of the Yamuna river. Just outside it are pools of green, stagnant water left over from flooding after Delhi's worst monsoon in three decades.
It's a breeding ground for mosquitoes and has raised fears of disease - there have been nearly 100 cases of dengue fever over the past month.
The organisers now certainly have their work cut out.
Team Scotland said in a statement that on arrival in Delhi last week their officials found "its allocated accommodation blocks were far from finished and in their view, unsafe and unfit for human habitation".
Commonwealth Games England called for "urgent" work on the facilities, raising concerns about "plumbing, electrical and other operational details".
Australia's chef de mission, retired marathon runner Steve Moneghetti, said in Melbourne the hosts "have got two days to do what's probably going to take about two weeks".
As the row unfolded, 23 construction workers were injured, five seriously, as an elevated footbridge gave way near the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, police said.
It is not clear what caused the collapse of the walkway, which was being built to link a car park to the arena, where the Games opening ceremony is to take place.
Delhi government's Chief Secretary, Rakesh Mehta, told Indian TV the bridge was cemented earlier on Tuesday.
Lalit Bhanot, secretary general of the organising committee, said in a news conference that the athletes' accommodation needed a "deep cleaning", but everything would be ready on time.
2010 COMMONWEALTH GAMES
- It is the first time India has hosted the Commonwealth Games
- 7,000 athletes and officials from more than 70 Commonwealth teams competing in 260 events in 17 disciplines
- Opening ceremony on 3 October at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium
"According to us the room may be clean, but the foreign officials may require a certain standard of cleanliness and hygiene which may differ from our standards," he said.
"We are on the job and everyone is working day and night."
He added: "All other things and all other venues are ready and in the best of condition to conduct these events."
There have also been safety concerns surrounding the Games, heightened on the weekend when gunmen shot and wounded two tourists near Delhi's Jama Masjid, one of India's biggest mosques.
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