CWG lawn bowl turf overpriced nearly 6 times


New Delhi: The murky deals in preparing the Commonwealth Games venues seem never ending. In yet another scandal lawn bowling tracks to be used during the Games have been built at around Rs 1.36 crore when it could have been done at just Rs 27 lakh.
CNN-IBN has details of bungling in building turf for lawn bowling event and finds out that the price of turf for lawn bowl events has been heavily overpriced.

Documents with CNN-IBN show lawn bowl track for National Games were built at a price of Rs 18.37 lakh but the same for Commonwealth Games have been built at Rs 1.35 crore. Lawn bowl is one of the main events at the Commonwealth Games slated to be held from October 3 to 14 in New Delhi. But like with most things associated with Commonwealth Games the organisation of even this sport could be a potential scam.
The lawn bowl turf for National Games in Jharkhand, which are yet to be held, was built by an Australian firm Greengauge Surface Ltd in 2005 for 24,500 pounds (Rs 18,37,500). Greengauge Surface Ltd is a firm which has been approved by the IOA as well.
But when in 2010 the National Games Committee wanted to build an indoor turf for lawn bowl, the organisers wrote to the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee to send the same company which had been awarded the contract for building the turf for the Games.
But the price quoted by the Delhi-based firm situated in Greater Kailash was Rs 1,35,20,000.
Seeing the huge increase over the initial cost the National Games Committee wrote back to the same Australian firm which had built the track in 2005. The Australian company quoted the price at Rs 27,19,500.
So while in 2005 a track for lawn bowl was constructed by an Australian firm for about Rs 18 lakh, in 2010 the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee got the lawn bowl track made for Rs 1.35 crore by a Delhi vendor.
A total of eight tracks have been built costing Rs 10,81,60,000. But the same track is still being made by the Australian firm for Rs 27,19,500 per track.

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