New Delhi, Sep 21: Embarrassments continue to pour in for India, as the chief executive of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), Mike Hooper, has now dubbed the Delhi Commonwealth Games (CWG) village 'filthy'.
"We have emphasised the importance of addressing the issue of cleanliness. We are disappointed to find ourselves this situation with just two days to go (for athletes to start arriving)," he said at a press conference here on Tuesday, Sep 21.
Even though he maintained his earlier appreciation of the international zone, including the main dining hall, at the Village complex, the CGF chief said that cleanliness was a very big cause of worry at this stage and called the Games village 'unlivable'.
"There was some progress, certainly insufficient to satisfy the majority," Hooper said, informing that CGF was given promises that everything would be set right by Sunday, Sep 19.
The CGF now hopes that the government will inervene and provide maximum resources to fix the problems before the Games begin on Oct 3.
"Hopefully that will happen... I was very pleased to hear that the Cabinet Secretary was at the Village himself this morning... He has has taken the matter very seriously, because it is serious," he said.
Hooper's remarks came after New Zealand officials, who visited the athletes' village, raised a cry over its dirty and unhealthy conditions.
"The way things are looking, it's not up to scratch, the reality is that if the village is not ready and athletes can't come," New Zealand chef de mission Dave Currie said earlier.
The CWG Federation's chief, Michael Fennell also questioned the authenticity of India's claims that the CWG village has world class felicities.