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A worker cleans the window of a room in the athlete's village in New Delhi AP Photo/Manish Swarup
Commonwealth Games

Athlete housing 'not fit for humans'

Team Scotland say that athlete’s accommodation needs serious improvement before Games start on 3 October.

THE SCOTTISH TEAM due to compete in the Commonwealth Games have dismissed the accommodation allocated to them in the athlete’s village in New Delhi as “unsafe and unfit for human habitation.”

Team Scotland were moved to a new building after complaining once, but said that the new accommodation required “serious cleaning and maintenance” to bring it up to standard.

Doubts surround the viability of the Games due to this and other scandals. On Sunday two tourists were shot outside a mosque in New Delhi city centre less than two weeks away from the scheduled start of the Games.

Scotland say they will still participate in the Games but “will not compromise on issues of health, safety and security”.

“The athletes’ village is not only at the heart of any Commonwealth Games, but is fundamental to the staging of the event” a statement read. “The specification for the village set by Delhi 2010 promised to be of the highest standard, surpassing anything that had gone before. However on arrival in Delhi on Thursday last week, Team Scotland officials found that building works had fallen seriously behind schedule and that its allocated accommodation blocks were far from finished and in their view, unsafe and unfit for human habitation.”

A statement from Commonwealth Games England this morning called for “urgent” work before their athletes begin arriving on Friday amid worries over “plumbing, electrical and other operational details”.

The Games are due to begin on 3 October.

This morning, a footbridge near the main stadium for the Games in New Delhi collapsed. injuring up to five labourers.  ”A footbridge was under construction in the parking lot of the JN stadium. Five to six labourers have been injured and rushed to hospital,” said Rajan Bhagat, a spokesperson for Delhi police. “There is no need to panic and the pictures on TV make it look much worse than it is,” he added.