BJP stalwart reached Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium ahead of PM by mistake

Senior BJP leader Lal Krishan Advani's dreams of becoming the prime minister of the country were not fulfilled by the electorate, but he must have had a pleasant surprise when he was treated like one on Sunday.

The chairman of the BJP parliamentary party strayed on his way to the Akshardham temple due to traffic diversions owing to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's scheduled visit to the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium - venue for the opening and closing ceremonies for the XIX Commonwealth Games - and landed at the stadium instead.

The outer layer of security for the Prime Minister's visit was sent into a tizzy when the personnel saw LK Advani's convoy coming towards the stadium. They thought that it was the Prime Minister, at least half an hour ahead of his scheduled arrival time at the stadium at 12:00 noon.

However, when the convoy reached the stadium they realized that it was the former deputy prime minister and not the dignitary they were waiting for. They immediately directed them to the Akshardham Temple.u00a0 When Advani's convoy reached the area, security men were busy running last moment checks and it took them a while to realise that they have not committed a goof-up.

The Prime Minister reached the stadium at around 12 and took a round of the under-renovation sports facility.
Dr Singh was accompanied by Sports Minister MS Gill and Commonwealth Games Organising Committee chief Suresh Kalmadi.

The Prime Minister asked authorities to "redouble their efforts" to quickly complete remaining works as people were expecting a "flawless" opening to the Commonwealth Games. The PM was about to visit other places as well. However, officials said, his movement would have created a traffic mess due to the security cover. So later, the plan was cancelled. The Prime Minister was shown various facilities there including the playing fields, royal box, stands for spectators, security and other arrangements.

Singh's visit came as part of the series of steps he has taken to streamline and expedite the preparations for the October 3-14 mega event which have been rocked by a spate of corruption allegations. Reporters were not allowed inside the venue during the Prime Minister's visit. Concerned by the delays and the corruption charges, Singh had convened a high-level meeting on August 14 to review the preparations for the Games.
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A committee of bureaucrats headed by Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar was formed and given overriding powers by bringing into its ambit the Games Organising Committee that has been tainted following corruption allegations.

Observing that there have been "slippages" in time schedules and deficiencies noticed, Singh had directed that a thorough probe should be held by the ministries concerned into complaints of "procedural and other irregularities" and "those found guilty should face severe and exemplary punishment".
He had instructed that all pending works should be completed in a time-bound manner and decided to visit select venues of the Games in the last week of this month.

Duty-free
The much-talked about Helium balloons for the opening and closingu00a0 ceremonies of the Commonwealth Games will be exempted from customs duty. The Finance Ministry has withdrawn customs duty on the balloons, technically known as Aerostats, along with equipment used for their deployment, sources said.
Aerostats will be deployed at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium for the upcoming Commonwealth Games. The exemption is part of the government's move to remove customs duty on sports goods and equipment imported for the Commonwealth Games.
However, to avail the exemptions, these balloons will have to be imported by suppliers, contractors, vendors or sub-vendors of the Organising Committee of the Commonwealth Games, they said. Earlier, in February this year, the government removed customs duty on various sports goods like arms and ammunition for shooting events, broadcasting equipment imported by Prasar Bharti for telecasting the spectacle and doping control equipment. The Commonwealth Games are scheduled to be held in New Delhi from October 3 to 14 this year.