India's Commonwealth Games Struggles Grow as Venue Roof Collapses

Concern of the 71 participating nations and territories in the Commonwealth Games scheduled to be held in New Delhi, India next month grows as part of the ceiling of the venue for the weightlifting event collapsed in New Delhi today.

The accident happened only one day after the earlier collapse on Tuesday of an over-bridge that was meant to provide pedestrian access from the parking lot to the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, where the opening and closing ceremonies as well as the showpiece athletic events are scheduled to be held.

The collapse resulted in 23 construction workers being injured, 5 of whom have sustained serious injuries. Fortunately, there were no injuries in today’s collapse of the false ceiling, as reported by the Indian authorities.

Mr. KM Chandreshekhar, the Indian Cabinet Secretary, denied that there was anything to worry about, saying “It’s a minor thing and it will be corrected.” The reason cited by Mr. Chandreshekhar for the accident was that “The cables which were to be set up for the data network were placed on the false ceiling and due to the weight of the cables the ceiling fell off.”

Indian authorities insist that the venues for games, practice and ceremony events will be ready by the early October when the games begin. However, there is still a lot of concern being shown by the guest nations, especially for the Athletes Village, described by several countries as being unliveable for hygiene and other reasons.