We've started but we can't finish: NDMC

After making a mess of Connaught Place by starting digging work in Middle Circle to transfer all cables and pipelines underground before Commonwealth Games and Outer Circle to upgrade eight subways New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) officials are now saying they might not be able to complete the work in Middle Circle before the Games.

This has hit CP's traders hard. They say sales have dropped by more than 50% and that they might be forced to hold protests against the ongoing work. Construction of the CP Metro station had earlier given them a setback and they are just recovering from it.

NDMC had started digging work in Middle Circle to carry out service ducting to place all cables and pipelines underground before the Games. But NDMC sources say that while tunnelling will be completed before the Games, they will not be able to transfer the service lines underground by then. Then why the hurry?

Said an NDMC official: "We will complete tunnelling before the Games but cables and pipelines will be placed underground only after the Commonwealth Games. Once tunnelling is complete, we will re-lay the road and beautify the area. The tunnel had to be made before carrying out beautification of the area and we will be ready with the tunnel before the Games. No further digging will be needed later as the service lines will be transferred underground through openings that will be made overground."

At present, facade restoration work is going on in 16 blocks of CP. It has already eaten into footpaths, making it difficult for pedestrians to walk in the area. Around 30-40% of restoration work has been completed till now. Besides this, NDMC has also begun construction of eight subways in Outer Circle, which has completely choked traffic in the area as only half the carriageway is available for traffic.

The traders are also sceptical about the subway work which has an August 2010 deadline getting completed before the Games as the monsoon is likely to delay work for at least two months.

Said president of New Delhi Traders' Association, Atul Bharghav: "They are holding CP to ransom. We cannot continue to bear losses for six months. Sales have dropped by more than 50% and this is peak business time for us. I have been getting calls from agitated shopkeepers. In such a scenario, we might have to hold protests. NDMC shouldn't have started work on the project like this. They are cutting it too close to the deadline. We are going to hold a meeting on this matter on Friday to chart our course of action."

Says Sneha Singh, who works in a bank in CP: "It is complete madness. It takes me an hour just to get to CP and there are constant traffic jams on Panchkuian Road, Minto Road etc. I have to get out of my house in Lajpat Nagar at least two hours before office hours in order to get to office on time. Finding parking is also impossible with no parking now available in Outer Circle and Middle Circle."

Commonwealth Baton goes underground :)

The Commonwealth Games Baton on Wednesday had its first experience of going underground when it visited Big Pit, a coal mine that houses the National Coal Museum of Wales in Blaenafon. The Commonwealth Games Baton's visit to the mine, 300 feet below ground, comes in the wake of being carried by a trapeze artist, suspended from a heliosphere in Twickenham last week.

Welsh rugby 7s captain Lee Beech, 10000m runner Simon Lawson, 400m hurdler Matt Elias, all of whom hope to represent Wales in the Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi, and Olympic 4x400m relay silver medalist Commonwealth veteran Jamie Baulch were the athletes chosen to carry the baton through some underground tunnels.

School children accompanied the elite athletes during the hour-long relay 300 feet below the ground. The baton travelled through some tunnels that form part of the last remaining deep mine in Wales.

The Commonwealth Games baton relay was started by the Mayor of Torfaen Cllr Bob Jones who has seen the arrival of the Queen's Baton 2010 Delhi as an opportunity for Big Pit and Blaenafon to take center-stage and showcase Wales' unique culture and geographic attributes to the world besides the values of the mining community.

Mine Manager Mr. Peter Walker was delighted Big Pit was a part of the Commonwealth Games Baton Relay 2010. Welsh coalfield communities have a great sporting tradition and it was fitting that the Queen's Baton should be run underground at the museum which is dedicated to telling the stories of these communities, he told the Big Pit's official website.

Later, the Queen's Baton visited the Treganna School here and saw that its students had prepared Indian flags to welcome it and went to the Cardiff High School during the inter school hockey tournament before making a stop at the Cardiff castle where Welsh rugby player Rhys Williams held it.