I'm not face of Games, just doing my job, says Kalmadi- Oct 9, 2010,

I'm not face of Games, just doing my job, says Kalmadi

Rumu Banerjee & Alok Sinha, TNN, Oct 9, 2010, 04.47am IST

Suresh Kalmadi is feeling the strain. The Games came with a lot of expectations but ran into many hurdles. He emerged as the main fall guy although many might have been responsible for the messy run-up.

He looked tired, but put up a brave front, insisting the Games is well-organised. And on his part, he was "satisfied". Excerpts

After the spectacular opening ceremony, the Games seem to be having a bumpy run. There are issues which particularly the foreign media is highlighting. How would you react?

Well, Third World countries don't get a chance to host these Games. There's still a feeling that we can't do a good Games - so issues are being made bigger than they are. As for me, it's like the opening of doors. The Africans are asking me about the Games and Sri Lanka is going to bid for it in 2018. What we have done in Delhi is huge and the opening ceremony set new standards.

You got a lot of flak for the Village. Do you accept blame?

The flats were not fully ready when we moved in. Only 18 towers were ready but a lot of cleaning-up was to be done. We went in for the overlays, and the builder and DDA said they would keep doing their work. Cleaning stains from windowpanes was not the job of the OC.

Delhi belly has emerged as a major concern. England and Australia have been groaning about it.

Yes, some athletes have had this problem but not because of the food at the Village (which is world class) or even the pool at the swimming complex. The food is tested by experts and the water in the pool is also tested by technical people.

What about the confusion over tickets which is refusing to go away?

We are trying to sort out the problem. The crowd will be good during the weekend. There has been some misreporting. There were 32,000 spectators inside Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium for athletics on Thursday evening. The attendance at the Games is generally thin in the first two-three days and picks up later. Now it is certainly better. The boxing, wrestling, badminton and swimming stadiums are packed.

Spectators have faced a lot of problems due to the security measures? There is no water and at times no food inside the venues.

Security is the most important thing. Every country wanted assurances on that. Now that all 71 countries are here, we cannot complain about security. At least I won't get into it. If the police does not allow water inside the stadium, what can we do? As for spectators, there are problems which we have almost sorted out.

There's no parking at the venues and people have been forced to walk a long distance in the heat. I also want to point out that several things are in place. Every event is starting bang on time. There were apprehensions and the usual Indian Standard Time jokes but we have stuck to timings.

Sheila Dikshit says she is a rock star. Can we say Suresh Kalmadi is a super rock star?

I'm not the face of the Games. I'm just doing my job. I have my fingers crossed. It is not over till it is over.

There have been several organisational glitches, like the delay in getting accreditation or the lack of volunteers.

We are organising a big event after a long time. There are bound to be some areas where we may not get it absolutely right. Accreditation has been an issue, but Delhi Police has been working very hard on it

Catering has been in the news for all the wrong reasons since the beginning. It is still a problem, both for the workforce and spectators. Why can't this be tackled?

Catering is separate for the Village and venues. We have got positive feedback for the Village catering but the venues have seen some problems. Earlier, the caterers we had selected were getting the food to the venues but because of the long distance and massive security checks, the process took a lot of time. No wonder, the food got spoilt.

Now, we have changed our strategy and got caterers closer to the venues. So now, the workforce and volunteers either get the food from the caterer close to the venue or just go to the restaurant.

For spectators, we had to set up kiosks but Delhi Police didn't give permission. This has created some logistical problem as the food stalls run out of food. We can't ask the cops to compromise on security.

Ugandan officials got injured in an accident because a security device malfunctioned. Why was there no apology?

I personally apologised to the chef de mission. Even the sports minister gave an apology. I don't know what the Ugandan sports minister had to say but I know I spoke to the chef de mission. He said such accidents could occur in any big event.

Do you agree with the perception, at least in some quarters, that since it involved an African country, the incident was not given much importance by the OC?

No, I don't think so at all. In fact, the African countries helped us get the Games. We have been very hospitable to them.

What lessons has the OC learnt so far?

I admit that we could have done better in areas like transport, catering and technology. We will certainly do better in these areas in the next event. But you have to admit, the organisation that has gone into this Games has been praiseworthy. We have all worked hard and all our officials are in the field, at the venues, doing their job. I am more than satisfied.