Govt sanctions Rs 687 crore more for Commonwealth Games

The union cabinet on Friday approved an additional budget of Rs 687 crore to the 2010 Commonwealth Games Organising Committee for the quadrennial extravaganza to be held in the Capital from October 3 to 14.

With the Games last budgeted at close to Rs 1620 crore, a fresh request "for overlays" had been made by the Organising Committee (OC) to the sports ministry. The catch was that the OC wanted the new funds, totalling Rs 687 crore, not to be treated as a loan but a grant. However, the cabinet made it clear this was going to be cleared only as a loan. As of now, the total loan taken by the OC comes to a staggering Rs 2,307 crore.

A lot of people have been wondering what "overlays" means. Simply put, this means expenses to be incurred on marquees, tents, temporary structures for tickets booths, spectator services/ security checks, cabins, furniture and fixtures.It also includes expenditure which will be incurred on public display systems, diesel generating (DG) sets, UPS backup, washing machines/ dryers and ice-making containers at the Games Village.

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