Delhi's dream airport on fast track

Delhiites for long have been promised a new airport, a world class facility that will more than make up for years of dripping ceilings and long queues they have faced. An airport that will become the face of Delhi when Commonwealth Games are held here in 2010. Over 25,000 people have been toiling ceaselessly for the past several months to turn this into reality. Most of them are faceless and, probably, will have little stake in the airport they are building. The project was awarded to GMR-led Delhi International Airport (P) Ltd (DIAL) in 2006. DIAL is developing the project in collaboration with Fraport, Eraman Malaysia, Airports Authority of India and India Development Fund. The Operations, Management and Development Agreement was signed in April 2006. USbased Brinckerhoff International Inc was appointed project management consultants and L&T was given design and construction. The foundation stone for the new i n t e g r at e d terminal, or T3 as it is better known, was laid on February 17, 2007. Work for the airport, with a capacity of 37 million passengers per year, has to be completed in 37 months, that is by March 2010. When the new integrated terminal is ready, the entire passenger capacity of the airport will be a whopping 60 million passengers per annum, sufficient till 2019. The new runway, which will take the flight-handling capacity of the airport to 65-70 flights per hour as against the present 35 per hour, is already ready. At the site, 22,000 labourers, mostly from Bihar, West Bengal and UP, supervised by 1,665 personnel from DIAL, consultants from Parsons Brinckerhoff and L&T , have been working round the clock to build an airport that will rival some of the best in the world, including the Hong Kong airport. Anil Dhawan, vice-president , construction, DIAL, says that about 200 skilled workers from abroad have been brought in to work along with the local labour, and by next year, a total of 1,000 such workers, mostly from the Middle East, would be working at T3. A whopping 20,000 w o rk e r s have been staying on site, with their families, to ensure that work is carried out uninterrupted, 24x7. Phua Chai Teck, vice-president , airport planning and development , told Times City, that the entire planning for the project took only six months though the norm is about a year for similar projects. ‘‘ The reason why we will be able to complete our work in the stipulated time is because all our work is happening simultaneously. We started construction even as planning was underway and tried to take forward all our work together. We have been able to stick to our original plans with very minor changes,’’ revealed I Prabhakar Rao, CEO, airport development. Transporting the huge quantity of material for the project was quite a task. About 500 trucks are coming to the site daily with supplies . Bitumen is being sourced from Panipat and Mathura. Other material and machines were brought in from various countries , including granite from Saudi Arabia, machines from Germany and cranes from Italy. The new runway used 1.65 lakh tonnes of cement which was sourced from 15 different suppliers! While the deadline may seem very close, officials are confident that work will be completed well in time. ‘‘ A lot of work is already over. The basic structure of the new terminal is in place and we have a sufficiently trained work force to ensure there are no hiccups ,’’ said Rao.

Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Airlines__Aviation/Delhis_dream_airport_on_fast_track/articleshow/3525612.cms#

Flintshire athletes to compete in junior Commonwealth Games

Published Date: 25 September 2008 TWO of Flintshire's future sporting champions will put their skills to the test after winning a place in the Wales team to take on Commonwealth opposition.
Matthew James, 18, of Sychdyn, and Thomas Allen, of Hope, Flintshire, have been selected to represent Wales in the Commonwealth Youth Games, which will be held in the Indian city of Pune.Matthew, a tennis player and Thomas, a swimmer, will join a 37-strong team of young Welsh athletes travelling to India for the games, which begin on October 13.Matthew, who has been a keen tennis player since he was seven, said he is delighted to have been selected after devoting most of his time over the last two years to improving his skills.He said: "I have spent a lot of time training and have played all over the world in junior tournaments."Since leaving school, I have done bits of home tutoring here and there but have dedicated most of my time to keeping up with my tennis."My junior ranking was high enough this year for me to be selected and I am really pleased to be given this opportunity."The success of the athletes from Wales at the Beijing Olympics has been a real boost to me too, and I can't wait to get to Pune to compete."In total, 71 countries will be competing and many of the athletes of the future will be taking part.Thomas, a dedicated swimmer, said: "I'm really pleased to have been selected for the team and to be given the opportunity to represent my country."I'm really looking forward to the experience and will be working hard over the next weeks with final preparations for the games."Chris Jenkins, Commonwealth Games Council for Wales director, said: "The Commonwealth Youth Games are very important for young athletes, as it gives them invaluable experience of competing on an international stage."Many of the athletes taking part in the Youth Games will be strong candidates for Delhi 2010 and beyond for London in 2012."
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Tourist transporters seek sops for Commonwealth Games 2010

New Delhi, Sep 24 (IANS) A leading association of tourist transporters Wednesday sought active cooperation from the government in providing better transport facility for visitors to the city during the Commonwealth Games in 2010.
‘The government at the centre and in the state should extend all possible help to tourist transporters to ensure visitors coming to Delhi for the event do not face any hardship,’ said Indian Tourist Transporters Association (ITTA).
Delhi’s Commonwealth Games 2010 are scheduled to start Oct 3, 2010.
‘Looking at the magnitude of the event, there is a need for coordinated efforts from all the stakeholders to make the Commonwealth Games a stupendous success,’ ITTA president Sarabjit Singh told reporters here.
He said ITTA’s city-based members have over 7,500 tourist vehicles, including around 300 luxury coaches.
‘The organising committee for the Games should decide on the type of vehicles required and suited for the event and prospective users. Accordingly, we will work out our fleet building strategy,’ he said.
Singh also sought incentives like tax exemption for the tourist transporters to help them upgrade their fleet.
‘The tourist transport operators should be allowed duty-free import of luxury vehicles, and should be given exemption from excise duty and value added tax on the purchase of vehicles within India,’ said Singh.

Source: http://www.sindhtoday.net/south-asia/23258.htm

64 Archers to be provided training for commonwealth games

The Sports Ministry has decided to provide state of art training and exposure both at domestic and international levels to 64 Archers for preparing them for the world class performance. Under the Scheme for “Preparation of Indian Teams for Commonwealth Games, 2010, the Steering Committee has approved the names of 39 Archers so far, for their inclusion in the “Core Group” of sportspersons . In addition, three Indian and one Foreign Coaches have also been identified in consultations with Archery Association of India (AAI).
The following names of sportspersons were approved for their inclusion in the Core Group under the Scheme:Under the Scheme, training is to be provided 32 Archers each in men & women category . It also makes provision for appointment of 12 Indian and 2 Foreign coaches. AAI has been asked to furnish the more names to fill all slots .

The Steering Committee constituted by the Government under the Scheme, has also directed the AAI to submit without delay the names of supporting personnel such as Sports Analyst, Doctor , Physiotherapist, Masseur and Masseuse as per the Scheme for its approval. As required under the Scheme, the Steering Committee has also directed to AAI to prepare in consultation with Sports Authority of India (SAI) the Annual Calendar of Training & Competitions (ACTC) for imparting training of 305 days in a year for the period from August 2008 to 31st March 2009. During the meeting, the AAI informed the Committee that Sports Authority of India Centre, Kolkatta, Tata Sports Academy, Jamshedpur and Army Sports Centre, Pune have been identified as centres for imparting training to the Core Group of sportspersons. For providing infrastructural and equipment support, the Committee has asked the AAI to submit their requirements, if any.
With an objective to enhance transparency and placing all information relating to the Scheme in public domain, the Committee has also emphasized the AAI , the need to develop a comprehensive website which should inter-alia contain the names, profiles of players, compilation of various facilities for the sports available country-wide (indicating levels of such facilities and under whose control/jurisdiction) and also names, Profiles, levels of Coaches, Supporting Personnel of the Sport available, Sports equipment necessary for that sport, list of suppliers in India and abroad, training facilities available overseas, list of major competitions / tournaments in India and abroad, details of the National Federation (with names of office bearer and their telephone numbers etc.), International Federation etc. The Committee directed the AAI to start the website within two months and communicate to it.
Dr. M S Gill, the Union Sports Minister directed the Steering Committee constituted under the Scheme to complete the process of identification of Core Group of Sportspersons and supporting personnel in respect of all disciplines in consultation with federations at the earliest so as to fully operationalise the Scheme expeditiously. He called for feedback from the stakeholders including players about Core sportspersons and coaches selected under the Scheme and said that the Ministry will look into the feedback seriously and take appropriate action.
It may be recalled that the Union Cabinet on 12th June, 2008 gave its approval for a Scheme titled “Preparation of Indian Team for Commonwealth Games, 2010, with an outlay of Rs. 678.00 crore for three years starting from 2008-09. The objectives of the Scheme are as follows:
To improve India’s competitiveness in international sports and to enhance the medals tally in major international events particularly the Commonwealth Youth Games, 2008 and Commonwealth Games, 2010;
To institutionalize a system for preparation of elite sportspersons for prestigious international competitive events which would inter-alia, also include qualifying championships for major international events;
To improve state of art training and better competitive opportunities to elite sportspersons / medal prospects; and
To develop a system of selection of sportspersons based on performance monitoring in the run upto the international event.
The Scheme aims to impart state of the art training to our sportspersons (medal probables) both in India and abroad with adequate sports sciences back up, with the objective of maximizing Indian medals’ tally in the Commonwealth Games, 2010.

Source: http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=43057

State-of-the-art training for 150 shooters for 2010 CWG

NEW DELHI: The Sports Ministry today decided to provide state-of-the-art training and exposure, both at domestic and international levels, to 150 shooters keeping in mind the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Under the scheme for "Preparation of Indian Teams for Commonwealth Games, 2010", the Steering Committee has approved the names of 63 shooters (35 Men and 28 Women) so far, for their inclusion in the "Core Group" of sportspersons. In addition, National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) has been asked to submit the panel of 15 Indian and 4 Foreign coaches earmarked for shooting discipline to the Steering Committee for its approval at the next meeting. Among those identified so far to form the Core Group include Abhinav Bindra, Anjali Bhagwat, Gagan Narang, Avneet Kaur Sidhu, Sanjeev Rajput, Tejaswini Sawant, P T Raghunath, Suma Shirur, Samaresh Jung, Anuja Jung, RVS Rathor, Moraad Ali Khan and Manavjit Singh Sandhu. Under the scheme, training is to be provided to 100 men and 50 women shooters. NRAI has been asked to furnish more names to fill all slots. The Steering Committee constituted by the Government under the scheme, has also directed the NRAI to submit without delay the names of support staff, such as a sports Analyst, and three mental trainers or psychologists for its approval. Sports Minister M S Gill had directed the Steering Committee to complete the process of identification of core group of sportspersons and support staff in respect of all disciplines in consultation with national federations at the earliest to fully operationalise the scheme expeditiously. The Cabinet on June 12, 2008 gave its approval for a scheme titled "Preparation of Indian Team for Commonwealth Games, 2010", with an outlay of Rs 678.00 crore for three years starting from 2008-09.

Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/State-of-the-art_training_for_150_shooters_for_2010_CWG/articleshow/3526872.cms#

Not enough hotel rooms for Commonwealth Games 2010

With the Commonwealth Games barely 25 months away, the government is pulling up its socks to ensure timely completion of hotels, stadia and Games Village for the mega event.

soruce: www.mid-day.com