The controversy over the formation of the organising committee for the 2010 Commonwealth Games to be held in New Delhi is over, with the Central Government announcing the setting up of an apex committee headed by Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Sunil Dutt to oversee the organisation and coordination of the Games.

The government also announced the constitution of an organising committee headed by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president Suresh Kalmadi to conduct the Games. Earlier the IOA secretary general Randhir Singh had cautioned that the delay in forming the organising committee could cost India the Games. "We are already one year behind as we were supposed to form the committee by December 31, 2003," he had said. The initial deadline for committee formation was first extended to March 2004 and then June before India asked the CWG federation to give them time till December 2004 to form the panels.

The cause of delay for the formation of the committees was the result of the tussle between the government and the IOA on who should head it. Initially, Sports Minister Sunil Dutt had announced that the government had made him chairman of the organising committee to which the IOA had taken strong objections. IOA’s contention was that it was their prerogative to form a committee.

The IOA had also declared in November last that its president Suresh Kalmadi would be the chairman of the organising committee and that he had been authorised to form the various other committees to review the Games.

Now, the new organising committee will have 15 members, including the chairman and vice-chairman. A three-member sub-committee of the group of ministers, headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, will supervise and deal with all financial matters concerning the Commonwealth Games.

Although there is still five years to go before the Games are held, no start has been made regarding the venues. Most of the old stadium in the Capital are in bad condition and require renovation and upgradation. But with the central government and the IOA pulling at different directions till recently, nothing has moved so far.

But with the formation of the organising committee, one can expect a smoother progress. The Sports Minister has even suggested that Bangalore could host one of the events during the 2010 Games. However, one is not sure whether such a thing could be possible as these Games are normally allotted to a particular city only. In this case, New Delhi. Organising the Commonwealth Games involves lot of labour and money. Both the government and the IOA will not like the other party to take the credit for the mega event.