Last updated at 1:46 PM on 23rd September 2010
- New Zealand joins Canada and Scotland in delaying arrival in Delhi
- Indian Prime Minister convenes crisis meeting on Games
- Wales team set to decide today whether they will travel to India
- Advance party of English athletes will arrive in Delhi today
- Child labourers photographed installing seats at main stadium
New pictures released today have revealed the full squalor facing competitors arriving at the Commonwealth Games athletes' village.
The pictures, taken by a BBC undercover reporter, show dirty bathrooms, exposed electricity cables, bedsheets covered in animal footprints, and flooding in filthy toilets and basins.
An advance party of English athletes is due to arrive in Delhi today despite safety and accommodation concerns that could see the team pull out of the crisis-hit Commonwealth Games, which start on October 3.
On Tuesday, 23 people were injured when a footbridge collapsed and yesterday the ceiling of the weightlifting arena fell in.
Filthy: The bathrooms of the Commonwealth Games village are covered in building dust and mud
Mess: A dirty basin, covered in an unknown substance, in the Commonwealth Games village
Paw effort: Animal footprints can be clearly seen on this bed in the village
The athletes' village has been condemned as 'unfit for human habitation' but Indian officials have played down fears the event may not take place.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg warned yesterday 'time was running out' for the beleaguered organisers.
As officials scrambled to save the showpiece event, the England team described its future as being on a 'knife edge' and said the next 24 hours would be vital in deciding whether to send its competitors.
The Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh is today holding crisis talks with the head of the Commonwealth Games, Mike Fennell.
So far, four athletes - including three world champions - have said they will not attend because of health or safety concerns. British triple jumper Phillips Idowu is among those who have said they will not appear.
Wash and go? The bathrooms at the Commonwealth Games athletes' village have been exposed as being in a particularly poor state
Worry: Several top athletes have pulled out of the Commonwealth Games
Danger: Exposed cables and huge holes in the building work can be seen in these pictures
Last minute: British triple jumper Phillips Idowu, left, has decided not to pull out of the Commonwealth Games, while child labourers, right, continue to work on Jawaharlal Stadium in Delhi yesterday
No national teams have pulled out of the event, although New Zealand, Canada and Scotland have postponed their arrival by at least two days.
Some nations have warned the Games may have to be cancelled or postponed unless facilities in the village, which will house 7,000 athletes, are dramatically and rapidly improved.
Wales has given games' administrators a deadline to confirm all venues and the Games Village are fit for purpose.
New Zealand officials said the state of the athletes' village was 'tremendously disappointing'. NZOC president Mike Stanley said: 'The long list of outstanding issues has made it clear the village will now not be ready for New Zealand athletes to move in as planned.'
Indian officials tried to play down the crisis promising all problems would be addressed, but Mr Clegg said: 'Time is running short. It's for athletes to decide themselves whether they want to attend or not, but I do hope we give the organisers the chance to sort themselves out so we give the games the chance to be the success they always wanted it to be.'
He added : 'Of course, all of us want these games to be a success. All of us want the Commonwealth to celebrate its identity at these games.'
If organisers fail to give the required assurances to Team England bosses, there is the chance that athletes may be pulled out of the games entirely.
Sir Andrew Foster, chairman of Commonwealth Games England warned: 'The ultimate option is we do not go."
But he added: 'We are not there yet.'
Squalor: A family at the temporary shelter where they moved after water levels rose near the Commonwealth Games village, seen in the background, left, while workers treat the open air canal to kill mosquitoes
Health risk: Large areas of open water are attracting mosquitoes and there has already been an outbreak of dengue fever, which is carried by the insects
Child labourers were photographed yesterday installing seats at main stadium and women carted dirt on their heads as the last minute preparations continued.
The build-up to the October 3 opening ceremony has been plagued by construction delays, allegations of corruption, terror threats, monsoons and an outbreak of dengue fever.
There was more bad news for the organisers yesterday when part of the ceiling of the weightlifting arena fell in just 24 hours after a footbridge - near the Jawaharlal Nehru complex, the centrepiece of the Games - collapsed.
Despite the concerns the first 22 English athletes, members of the bowls and hockey teams, are due to leave today for Delhi on an overnight flight.
Commonwealth Games Federation President Mike Fennell is due to arrive in Delhi today, and has requested a crisis meeting with the Indian prime minister.
No-show: Three countries have postponed their arrival at the Games until conditions improve
Labourers check the roof of the weightlifting venue at Jawaharlal Stadium yesterday after part of the ceiling collapsed
Federation chief executive Mike Hooper said the emergency meeting 'emphasises that this is an important issue and we obviously need to engage at the highest level to get it fixed'.
International sports officials have called the games village unfinished, dirty, hobbled by numerous infrastructure problems and even 'unsafe and unfit for human habitation.'
'It's just filthy... it hasn't been cleaned,' said Mr Hooper.
In addition to shoddy conditions inside and outside the buildings, there also are problems with plumbing, wiring, furnishings, Internet access and cell phone coverage. Mr Hooper also confirmed reports of excrement found in the village.
'I've never come across this before,' he said of the last-minute preparations. 'It's very frustrating to see the delays and the fact that we've had to come right down to the wire.'
'We've been complaining about the delivery of the venues for nearly two years, and the constant delays,' he said.
Race against time: Labourers work to concrete a staircase on a pedestrian bridge outside of the main stadium yesterday
Paving the way: Workers lay roads and paths at the main stadium yesterday
The Indian public have been embarrassed by the debacle - the Games were meant to herald the country's status as a super power and prepare the way for an Olympic bid.
In a page-one headline yesterday The Times of India proclaimed : 'C'wealth Games India's Shame.'
Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit rejected talk of abandoning the Games, dismissing the incidents as 'minor glitches'.
She added: 'Do not make it look like the whole thing has collapsed. They are not insurmountable problems. For the past month there have been incessant rains. Sure it is a problem, but not a major one.'
Even at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, which is to host the Commonwealth Games’ opening and closing ceremonies, and is supposed to be the centrepiece of India's biggest sporting event for 26 years, problems remained yesterday.
Mounds of earth lay in the way of pedestrians. Information kiosks and help desks are still being built, their steel structures lying around on the pavement waiting to be put up.
Stray dogs have been seen enjoying the space and freedom of the stadium’s running track, leaving organisers with even more mess to clean up.
Ticket sales have been poor while the new Delhi Metro, generally acknowledged as the most positive legacy of the Games, still isn’t complete. Stations that were meant to ferry thousands of tourists around the city stand unfinished, their deadlines postponed until next year.
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