C'wealth Games organisers ask female workforce to cover themselves well to prevent spread of dengue

It is not just the missing deadlines that give the Organising Committee (OC) of the Commonwealth Games a scare. The latest in the series of nightmares plaguing the organisers of the mega sporting event is dengue.

To prevent it's workforce falling victim to the vector-borne disease, the OC has issued directions to its employees, especially women, that they should avoid wearing short clothes that leave legs and arms exposed to the elements.

Though there have been 550 confirmed cases of dengue in the city, as per the unofficial figures the count could be 5-10 times higher.

OC's Official spokesperson Lalit Bhanot could not be reached for a comment but a top official, requesting anonymity, told MiD DAY that a directive to this effect had been issued last week.u00a0u00a0
Due to incessant rains and water-logging the cases of Dengue are increasing.

"Almost half of our workforce consists of women. Majority of them are young. So, it is imperative upon them that they should take all steps to avoid contracting Dengue so that their productivity also doesn't get affected," the official said.

He pointed out that it was not just the women who have been asked to cover themselves up well. "The directive is not gender specific. We want that our workforce should remain healthy so that they are able to achieve targets and help us organise them Games well," he added.

According to the doctors, Aedes Aegypti - the mosquito responsible for spreading Dengueu00a0-- bites only during daytime.

Officials fear Dengue might further hit their preparations, which are already running behind the schedule. "If somebody falls ill it will affect work directly," the official said.

Tickets out
The OC on Wednesday released physical tickets for the CWG. The OC is targeting 17 lakh tickets for the Games including 60,000 tickets for opening and closing ceremony.
Earlier, only online tickets were launched. The lowest price of ticket for opening ceremony is Rs 1,000 and for closing ceremony is Rs 500 but the prices of tickets for the competitions start at Rs 50.
Games Director of Ticketing, Monica Jolly said that the tickets can never be counterfeited as they have been made keeping in mind all the security aspects. "The tickets have been printed at the Indian Security Press, Nasik which also prints Indian currency. To protect the tickets from counterfeiting, they have been printed on the same paper used for printing Rs 1,000 currency notes. "The tickets are bar coded and if the bar code is not there one cannot enter the venue," Jolly said. Now tickets will beu00a0 available in Retail Outlets and through the Call Centre. Large number of tickets have been sold so far, generating revenue of about Rs 10 crore. Countries abroad have also placed their orders where countries like Australia, New Zealand, Canada, UK and USA have registered maximum bookings.

Security
The tickets have been printed at the India Security Press, Nasik, which also prints currency for the Government. To protect them from being counterfeiting, the tickets have been printed on the same paper used for printing currency. It has visible and invisible Security features like security thread.

Retail Outlets
30 Retail Outlets are opened in Delhi and NCR of Hero Honda, Central Bank of India & IRCTC STC Branch. Spectators have also been provided with the options of 'self-pickup' and tickets being couriered to them on purchase.u00a0 The online and Call Centre purchase processes will also remain functional.

Transportation
Though OC said that spectators would get free transportation to and from the venues on the day of the event through Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and the Delhi Metro Railway Corporation (DMRC). DMRC so far have been non-committal on the issue.