RAJYA SABHA ______∗SYNOPSIS OF DEBATE ______(Proceedings other than Questions and Answers) ______Tuesday, August 09, 2011/ Sravana 18, 1933 (Saka) ______

SHORT DURATION DISCUSSION

Discussion on the Statement laid on the Table of the Rajya Sabha on the 3rd August, 2011 by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports regarding Commonwealth Games, 2010 and the developments that have taken place thereafter

THE LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION (SHRI ARUN JAITLEY) initiating the discussion, said : The Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports made a statement which dealt with the structure under which the Commonwealth Games were conducted. The Commonwealth Games were a major international event. There was a larger objective that would have been emerged as a world’s sporting power. But sporting event converted into scandal. Various agencies were awarded contracts, large sum of taxpayers’ money was spent disproportionately. But from the reports which are coming out what now appears the buck of the Commonwealth Games must stop with only one man, the one person who by taking some route became the Chairman of the Organizing Committee. An Organizing Committee that was set up. But they said that they had to create such a set up because their hands were tied on account of the deeds of NDA ______∗This Synopsis is not an authoritative record of the proceedings of the Rajya Sabha.

71 Government which led to the appointment of Chairperson of the Organizing Committee. This House will have to take an extraordinary step. All documents which have been held back must be summoned to the floor of the House for inspection by every Member of the House. When a bid document was prepared, the Indian Olympic Association had no money. That money had to be given as a grant by the Sports Ministry. In this case, the two eventual bids were the Canadian bid and the Indian bid. India bid for New and Canadian bid for Hamilton. The Commonwealth Games Federation allowed only the Indian Olympic Association to bid. The bid document itself says that the Games will have to be supported by the Government of India. Hence, the Government of India, the Leader of the Opposition, the Chief Minister and the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi had to support the bid, then all these documents were sent for final evaluation to the Commonwealth Games Federation. The organization of these Games was to be given to a non profit Government society headed by a Government nominee. Hence a major international event, on which thousands of crores of rupees of public exchequer are to be spent, became a private fiefdom of a few people. On 13th April, 2003, the Games are awarded to . When the Games are awarded to New Delhi, various people go and sign the Contract. The basic commitment was that there would be a registered non-profit Government society headed by the Government nominee. By February with the elections, the Government changed. Once the new Government come into place, the only agenda was to capture the games. Now the fraudulence began. The bid document of May 2003, had converted into a contract in November 2003. In September 2004 an up-dated bid document surfaced in the files of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. It was decided that Mr. Sunil Dutt would be made Chairman; but, later on Mr. Kalmadi was appointed the Chairman. That decision made Mr. Sunil Dutt very unhappy. There were still some persons who did not accept that order. A Group of Ministers under the HRD Minister was constituted which had taken the decision that the

72 Organising Committee would be headed by the President of the IOA and Mr. Suresh Kalmadi would conduct the Commonwealth Games. According to the rules of the Commonwealth Games Federation, the Commonwealth Games would be conducted by a National Association. But, that was not done. You should have been bound by a Government Organising Committee. However, the Committee was converted into a private body and political links were sought. Now, we are seeing the bad consequences of overruling. Is the Government only a milch cow, which is going to provide the funds without any form of accountability? He registers a private society, the Prime Minister and the GoM have already approved his chairmanship of the society. Ministers after Ministers start complaining as to what is to be done. He keeps hijacking the whole operation and spends the entire money and there is no accounting. I would like to put a question. Was he a chairman in his private capacity, or, was he a chairman as a Government nominee?

This House is not informed about a single document. The whole country is entitled to see what the documents are. If he was the private chairman of a private society, the Government of India had no power to remove him. Every contract which is executed by this private body and implemented is over priced. For the last one year we are being disgraced by fact after fact before the global media that every contract is overpriced and there is no scrutiny. Today the CBI is working overtime to find out the truth. Except for the recently renovated Mumbai, the Wankhade Stadium, there is not a single cricket stadium in India, cost of which has gone into three figures. Six months after the Games were over, the work was still going on. As far as the agencies are concerned, the agencies will be accountable to whoever in law the agencies are accountable. You created a mechanism for the Games which was contrary to all arrangements. There are two issues which I raise and with which I conclude. The first is, the Government has not taken this House into confidence.

73 They have given us a twisted version of the facts. And the second fact is, it is for the Government to decide what they want to do. We, as the Opposition, are very clear that huge case of overspending of public money have taken place. The Government must be hauled up for making an inaccurate statement of this kind. SHRI RAASHID ALVI: The Parliament is to debate and if there is any mistake, expose to the country. Is this the only issue as to how Mr. Kalmadi became Chairman of Olympic Games? On 14th May, 2003 IOA submitted bid documents and it was decided that Government nominee should Chair the Organizing Committee. The then Minister of Sports wrote a letter to the President of CGF where in he said that everything would be done in accordance with the U.K.. The then Minister of Law, Shri Arun Jaitley objected to this by saying that it should not be. 11th September, 2003 was an important date. On this date Cabinet cleared the host city contract. The term 'Government's nominee will be the Chairman' was deleted from that contract. It is said in the contract that the Federation shall entrust the CGA of the host country with the organization of the Games. The CGA shall establish an organizing Committee which shall have legal status. OC shall work in conjunction with the CGA and shall be jointly responsible for all commitments including financial commitments. Next important date was 1st November, 2004 when Kalmadi was selected Chairman in the general body and his name was proposed by Shri Vijay Kumar Malhotra. The members of the general body were Shri Abhay Singh Choutala, Shri Vijay Kumar Malhotra, Sardar Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and Shri Tarlochan Singh.

In 2004, Shri Malhotra said, "It is the prerogative of the IOA to put in place the Committee to organize the games". At that time he also said that CGA should be a separate registered company and it should also organize the games. All this hue and cry is on the CAG report in which it has been stated that PMO is related with the appointment of Shri Kalmadi. I

74 want to say that powers of CAG have been clearly specified in article 149. CAG is only responsible in relation to the accounts of the Union and the States. SHRI PRASANTA CHATTERJEE: The CAG has a very well organised system. There is a continuous attack nowadays from the high levels on CAG. The first meeting of the Group of Ministers was held on 25th October which was chaired by none other than the Prime Minister. The then Minster of State for Youth Affairs and Sports expressed his surprise over the adoption of a resolution by the IOA appointing the President of IOC as Chairman of the OC. The PMO recommended the name. In its third meeting the Group of Ministers endorsed the views of the PMO on 29th January, 2005. It was not in conformity with the decision taken by the Group of Ministers which the Prime Minister had himself chaired. The body of Government was converted into a non-government body without any Government control. We want the reply from the Prime Minister. Why didn’t even the Prime Minister interfere at that stage when it was registered by name? In September, 2009, the President, CGF wrote to the Prime Minister expressing his doubts about the capability of the OC. A non-Government body showered money from the Government Exchequer. The Prime Minister and then Union Finance Minister can not evade their responsibility. Why did the Prime Minister fail to resist Shri Suresh Kalmadi in time? There were many irregularities in tendering contracts. Delhi CM’s involvement requires a serious probe. The role of corporate sector should be investigated. SHRI SHIVANAND TIWARI: Constitutional bodies like CAG is being attacked by the Government. The Chairman of the Drafting Committee Shri B.R. Ambedkar had treated CAG equal to the judiciary. I want to know why three members of sub committee of Groups of Ministers did not supervise the financial deal? It was not concealed what was happening in the Commonwealth Games. The then Ministers of Sports had written in this regard but the Government did not take any action. When the assets of the country was being plundered openly, why did not the Government intervene at that time? Three members Group of Ministers including then Finance Minister

75 Shri P. Chidambaram should clarify why they did not carry out their responsibility? The questions raised by the Leader of the Opposition should be answered. This Government had lost the right to govern this country. SHRI MOHAN SINGH: The Government of India has no control over anything. This is important that thousands of crores of rupees of the poor exchequer were looted under the supervision of Government. Once Sport Minister had said that poor country like India is not appropriate country for Organizing this Games. The Government was not alert. After the publication of the Report of Shungloo Committee and the Report of CAG, suddenly Government started defending one and all. This was done because the Report of CAG has raised fingers at the PMO. The Government is surrounded by corruption. The corrupts have no fear whatsoever. The exchequer of the this country has been looted fearlessly. Why is the name of a single person being raised? The construction work is also of poor quality. SHRI D. RAJA : As far as the appointment of Mr. Kalmadi is concerned, the Prime Minister owes an answer to the Parliament. I congratulate our athletes and sportspersons. They exhibited commendable performance and brought a good name for the country. The expenditure of Common Wealth Games got escalated, and when we moved to December, 2010, it became Rs. 18,532 crores. It got escalated by fifteen times. Here, I think, the then Minister of Finance must come to this House and must give an explanation. The very same august House discussed one serious issue of diversion of funds meant for the welfare of the SCs and the STs towards the CWG. I do not know whether the money was given back or not. But the fact is that there were financial irregularities. I think, the Prime Minister, the Chief Minister of Delhi and the other Ministers who were a part of organizing the CWG must be held responsible for this loot of money. If charges of this seriousness are levelled against anybody, they must step down and must face the inquiry. Such should be ethics in public life.

76 SHRI KUMAR DEEPAK DAS : The PMO, and the Delhi Government are directly involved in CWG scam. But the Government is limiting its inquiry only to the IOA Chief and others. Why has the Delhi Government been kept out of CBI inquiry? After the report of the CAG, it has become crystal clear that the Delhi Government is very much involved in the CWG scam. They misused crores of public money. I on behalf of my Party, demand that the entire scam, the entire CWG activities, done by the Delhi Government, during, before and after CWG, should come under CBI inquiry. SHRI SATISH CHANDRA MISRA : It is the opinion of our Party that if anybody is involved in corruption, stringent action should be taken against him. The Minister of Home Affairs admitted in his reply to the House regarding bringing back the money meant for the development of SCs and STs under the Special Component Plan and make an inquiry about the rest of money and also inform the House about it. But so far no action has been taken on it. Our Party believes that CAG is a very important constitutional body and procedure regarding it should be followed till the end. If we discuss the report of the CAG during Short Duration Discussion, it would not serve any purpose. I would also request through your good self that if an assurance is given in the House by a Minister, it should be honored because it has its own importance. SHRI PRAKASH JAVADEKAR: It was a scandal of appointments. The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports had prepared five volumes related with the CWG. I demand that all the volumes of the documents related with the CWG should be laid on the Table of the House. It should be investigated by the CBI under the monitoring of the Supreme Court that how fraud of updated bid was committed. Chidambram ji should answer in the House that how he allowed such a financial bungling to take place. There was contractors' profit, overhead charges of 37.5 per cent instead of 15 per cent in the construction of bridges and flyovers in Delhi. Who was benefitted by this additional 22 percent profit? The and Government of Haryana allotted lands on concessional rate for

77 constructing 40 thousand rooms in , and Delhi. But foreign guests did not come and neither hotels were built. It should also be investigated who were the beneficiaries of this loot. The EMMAR-MGF bid was technically disqualifies, still it got the tender. Discussion not concluded.

V. K. AGNIHOTRI, Secretary-General. [email protected]

78