Following an inspection of all stadiums and venues for the Commonwealth Games, Gill told the Commonwealth organising committee that a proposal will be taken to the Union Cabinet very soon on the increased cost of the stadiums. He said the expenditure finance committee is examining the estimates in detail.

As reported earlier, the Delhi Finance Minister, Dr A K Walia, had written to the Planning Commission, stating that in the wake of dipping revenue collection and the economic slowdown, the Delhi government has no “extra funds to spend in the next fiscal”. He attributed the dip in revenue to falling stamp duty collections in the wake of the global financial slowdown.

While Walia asked for Rs 500 crore for this year and Rs 2,000 crore for each of the next fiscals, Dikshit too had visited Planning Commission chief Montek Singh Ahluwalia a few days ago, expressing her concern about the situation.

Meanwhile, the Commonwealth Games Committee, under the chairmanship of Suresh Kalmadi, and Sheila Dikshit and officials of the Urban Development Department and CPWD conducted an overall inspection of the construction of all Games stadiums and reportedly expressed their satisfaction over progress made.