Organising committee The organisation of 2010 Commonwealth Games was beset by delays: in January 2010, the Indian Olympic Association vice-chairman
Raja Randhir Singh expressed concern that Delhi was not up to speed in forming and organising its games committee and, following a 2009
Indian Government report showing two-thirds of venues were behind schedule,
Commonwealth Games Federation president Mike Fennell stated that the slow progress of preparations represented a serious risk to the event. Singh also called for a revamp of the games' organising committees: Jarnail Singh, a former Secretary of the Government of India, was appointed as the chief executive officer and
Indian Olympic Association president
Suresh Kalmadi was appointed as head of the committee. In spite of delays and the corruption cases levied on the organisers, commentators stated that they were confident that India will successfully host the games and do so on time. At the launch of the Queen's Baton Relay in October 2009, the Business Club of India (BCI) was formed through the partnership of the organising committee, the
Confederation of Indian Industry and the
Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry. The BCI was formed to both market the Games and promote Indian business interests internationally.
Venues Events took place at 12 competition venues. A total of 20 training venues were used in the Games. Of these 20, one was used for archery; three for aquatics; two for lawn bowls; two for netball; eight for rugby sevens, including seven venues within
Delhi University; two for shooting; one for squash; two for table tennis; one for weightlifting, three for wrestling and two for tennis. A total of five venues were newly constructed for the event; the
Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range, the
Siri Fort Sports Complex, the
Thyagaraj Sports Complex, the
Yamuna Sports Complex as well as a
rugby sevens facility in
Delhi University Stadium. This does not include the two venues—the
Indira Gandhi Sports Complex and
Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium—that received major renovations or an uplift. All other venues had existed prior to the event. The largest venue was the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, with a capacity of 60,000, was the main venue of the event, hosting both
the opening and the
closing ceremonies. On the other hand, the
Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Shooting Range located in Kadarpur had the smallest seating capacity, at 345. There were three main non-competition venues in the event, besides the Commonwealth Games Village; namely the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games Organising Committee Headquarters, the Main Media Centre, and the Games Family Hotel, Hotel Ashok.
Commonwealth Games Village meeting the members of Northern Ireland at the Games Village The Commonwealth Games Village provided accommodation and training for athletes of the Games, and was opened from 23 September to 18 October 2010. It is located along the east bank of the River Yamuna, in proximity to competition and training venues as well as city landmarks, and is spread over an area of . Comprising five main zones—the Residential Zone, the International Zone, the Training Area, the Main Dining and the Operational Zone—the Games Village, which was a non-smoking zone, was universally accessible particularly to accommodate
para-sport athletes. Free accommodation for all athletes at the Games Village, as well as free transport and other benefits, such as a free trip to the famed
Taj Mahal and a reserved lane for participants on selected highways were provided. The Games Village accommodated over 8,000 athletes and officials for the Games.
Budget The initial total budget estimated by the
Indian Olympic Association in 2003 for hosting the Games was . In 2010, however, the official total budget soon escalated to an estimated , a figure which excluded non-sports-related infrastructure development.
Business Today magazine estimated that the Games cost . The 2010 Commonwealth Games was reportedly the most expensive Commonwealth Games ever.
Transport A four-lane flyway, stretch from
Lodi Road to trans-Yamuna, linking the
Games Village to the
Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium was constructed which reduced the travelling time between the
village and the Stadium to six minutes. In response to concerns over the large number of trains that pass by the Delhi metropolitan region daily, construction of road under-bridges and over-bridges along railway lines have been completed. To expand road infrastructure, flyovers, cloverleaf flyovers, and bridges were built to improve links for the Games and city in general. Road-widening projects were finished with an emphasis being placed on expanding national highways. To improve traffic flow on existing roads, plans were made to make both the inner and outer Ring roads signal free. To support its commitment to mass transport, nine corridors have been identified and were constructed as High Capacity Bus Systems (for example, one from Ambedkar Nagar to
Red Fort). Six of these corridors were expected to be operational in 2010. Additionally, The
Delhi Metro was expanded to accommodate more people and boost the use of public transport during the event. The metro has extended to
Gurgaon and the
Noida area. For this large increase in the size of the network, Delhi Metro had deployed 14
tunnel boring machines.
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) was used to tag vehicles in venue parking lots to help organise mass parking and increase security.
Green Games The organisers signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United Nations Environment Programme to show the intention to host a "sustainable games" and to take the environment into consideration when constructing and renovating venues.
Thyagaraj Stadium is intended to be a key example of environmentally considered construction. In opposition to this intention, a number of environmental controversies arose and the adverse ecological impact of various aspects of the games have been protested by city residents. City residents filed a public interest petition to the
Supreme Court of India against the felling of 'heritage' trees in the
Siri Fort area to make way for Games facilities. The court appointed architect
Charles Correa to assess the impact and he severely criticised the designs on ecological grounds. In spite of this, in April 2009 the Supreme Court allowed the construction on the grounds that "much time had been lost" and "the damage already caused to the environment could not be undone". The Commonwealth Games village, located on the flood plains of the
Yamuna, has also been the subject of controversies about the flouting of ecological norms. After a prolonged legal battle between city residents and the state, construction was permitted to continue on the basis of an order of the Supreme Court of India in July 2009, which held that the government had satisfied the requirements of "due process of the law" by issuing public notice of its intention to begin construction work in September 1999 (a date four years prior to the acceptance of Delhi's bid for the games).
Queen's baton relay in
London, United Kingdom hands over the Baton to
Sheila Dikshit, Chief Minister of Delhi at
Wagah Border,
Punjab The
Queen's Baton Relay began when the baton, which contains
Elizabeth II's message to the athletes, left
Buckingham Palace on 29 October 2009. The baton arrived at the 2010 Games opening ceremony on 3 October 2010, after visiting the other 54 nations of the Commonwealth and travelling throughout India, reaching millions of people to join in the celebrations for the Games. The baton arrived in India on 25 June 2010 through the Wagah Border crossing from Pakistan. The baton was designed by Michael Foley of Foley Designs and a graduate of the
National Institute of Design. It is a triangular section of aluminium twisted into a
helix shape and then coated with coloured soils collected from all the regions of India. The coloured soils are a first for the styling of a Queen's Baton. A jewel-encrusted box was used to house the Queen's message, which was laser-engraved onto a miniature 18 carat gold leaf—representative of the ancient Indian 'patras. The Queen's baton is ergonomically contoured for ease of use. It is high, wide at the base, and wide at the top and weighs . The Queen's baton has a number of technological features including: • The ability to capture images and sound •
Global positioning system (GPS) technology so the baton's location can be tracked • Embedded
light emitting diodes (LEDs) which changed into the colours of that country's flag whilst in that country • A text messaging capability so that people can send messages of congratulations and encouragement to the baton bearers throughout the relay
Other preparation In preparation for an influx of English-speaking tourists for the Games, the Delhi government implemented a program to teach English, and the necessary skills for serving tourists, to key workers—such as cab drivers,
security workers, waiters, porters, and service staff. In the two years prior to the Games 2000 drivers were taught English. In addition to Delhi, the Indian Government plans to expand the program to teach people in local tourist destinations in other parts of India. To facilitate hassle-free sightseeing in Delhi,
Delhi Tourism undertook the launch of India's very first Hop on Hop Off bus known as HOHO DELHI, modelled on popular concept of transport facilities in Western countries. The bus, which is equipped with state-of-the-art technologies like digital video screens and GPS systems, also had trained guides who were responsible for giving information about the sites. To prepare for the energy-usage spike during the games and to end chronic
power cuts in
Delhi, the government undertook a large power-production initiative to increase power production to 7000 MW (from the previous 4500 MW). To achieve this the government streamlined the power distribution process, directed additional energy to Delhi, and constructed new power plants. run a special Commonwealth Express train for foreign delegates and participants to visit
Taj Mahal at
Agra during the Games Indian states trained state police forces to handle tourist-related issues and deploy them prior to the Games. A large-scale construction and "beautification" project has resulted in the demolition of hundreds of homes and the displacement of city dwellers—at least 100,000 of New Delhi's 160,000 homeless people have removed from shelters, some of which have been demolished. Bamboo screens have been erected around city slums to separate visitors from the sights of the slums, a practice which human rights campaigners have deemed dishonest and immoral. The
Delhi High Court implemented a series of "mobile courts" to be dispatched throughout Delhi to relocate migrant beggars from Delhi streets. The mobile courts would consider each beggar on a case-by-case basis to determine whether the beggar should be sent back to his/her state of residence, or be permitted to remain in government-shelters.
Opening ceremony The opening ceremony was held at the
Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the main stadium of the event, in New Delhi, India. It began at 19:00 (
IST) on 3 October. The opening ceremony was directed by
Ganapathy Bharat, known commonly as
Bharat Bala, an acclaimed Tamil film director, screenwriter and film producer based in Kodambakkam,
Chennai. The ceremony featured over 8,000 performers, and lasted for two-and-a-half hours. It is estimated that 3.50 billion (US$77 million) were spent to produce the ceremony. The ceremony was divided into six separate segments, each showcasing the rich, ancient and diverse cultures of India, including art, traditions, dances, music and colours. It began with a showcase of a variety of drummers from all parts of India, accompanied by seven-year-old
tabla player Keshav. The countdown took place on a screen in the stadium, and was accompanied by fireworks. The centerpiece of the ceremony was the helium
aerostat, which acted as a giant 360° screen for spectators. The ceremony showcased a fusion of various classical dances from all parts of India,
mehendi decorations, sand paintings and
yoga. The title song was performed by
A R Rahman. Singer
Hariharan sang the welcome song for the Games, titled "Swagatam", with thousands of school children. The Prince of Wales (now
Charles III; representing
Elizabeth II as
Head of the Commonwealth) and
President of India Pratibha Patil officially declared the Games open. Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh of the host nation, India, attended the opening ceremony as well. A total of three
heads of state from outside India attended the opening ceremony; two from
Commonwealth nations and one from a non-Commonwealth nation. The three head of states were
Mohamed Nasheed,
President of the Maldives,
Marcus Stephen,
President of Nauru and a multiple Commonwealth gold medallist, and
Albert II, Prince of Monaco, representing the
International Olympic Committee. As well,
Sir Anand Satyanand, the
Governor General of New Zealand, attended the ceremony.
Closing ceremony The closing ceremony featuring both Indian and Scottish performers. The closing ceremony was not as well received as the opening ceremony. The Commonwealth Games flag was handed over to representatives of
Glasgow, Scotland, which hosted the
XX Commonwealth Games in 2014. At the closing ceremony, the President of the Commonwealth Games Federation declared that Delhi had hosted a "truly exceptional Games". A day after the ceremony, Scotland's First Minister
Alex Salmond stated that == The Games ==