'Rs 600 crore loss in CWG due to inexperienced consultant'

New Delhi, Nov 15: Commonwealth Games faced a loss of Rs 600 cr due to an inexperienced international consultant hired by the Organising Committee, said a report.

The Organising committee submitted a report on the Delhi 2010 Games, which reviewed the whole planning and execution process. It blamed the poor planning and delay of cost escalation of various projects which caused the huge loss.

"As against a target of Rs 960 crore, the contracted sponsorship revenue could barely touch Rs 375 crore. This shortfall (of Rs 585 cr) was perhaps a consequence of the fact that the international consultant did not have experience and expertise of the local conditions," the committee said and adding to that committee reported, "in the process, the OC CWG Delhi 2010 lost out on both foreign and domestic corporate sponsors."

The Organising committee recommended the proper distribution of financial powers to different officials and the digitalisation of the payment vouchers to check any wrongdoings in the committee's accounts.

According to the report, the Accounts and Finance Functional Area, like any other FA, should be manned by professionally qualified people of high integrity. The delegation of financial powers should commensurate with the responsibility thrust on the different officials. The system of record keeping and internal check of bills should be clearly documented and made known to all concerned.

The committee added that, as far as possible the paid vouchers may be digitised and kept in electronic depository for easy access and scrutiny.

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