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Source: ONE News -
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Thousands of slum dwellers in Delhi have been handed eviction notices, just seven days out from the official opening of the Commonwealth Games in India.
The government is on a drive to beautify the city, telling families with no official addresses they need to move away from the Games Village.
Whole tent villages are being packed up and trucked 25 kilometres out of the city to an area set up for them, until the games are over.
Many of those living in the village used to be farmers, however since monsoon floods washed away their livelihoods last month, they had been working as labourers, helping to get the city ready.
However their time is up and they had no choice but to abide and leave.
Forgotten people
Delakamaree and her four children live in a road side tent in view of the athletes' village.
She told ONE News she didn't share the official view that the Games would benefit Delhi.
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"Why should I be happy? I am living in a slum...the Commonwealth Games is doing nothing for me."
Delakamaree told ONE News that in its attempt to impress the world, India's government has forgotten its own people.
Situation monitored
Meanwhile, New Zealand Games officials are still closely monitoring the situation in Delhi ahead of our first athletes' arrival on Tuesday.
New Zealand Olympic Committee president Mike Stanley said security had always been on the horizon, and told Newstalk ZB that he was keeping in close contact with Foreign Affairs officials.
Commonwealth Games bosses admit they should have been upfront sooner about the problems in New Delhi.
Federation Chief Executive, New Zealander Mike Hooper, has accepted he should be taking some of the blame for not revealing the shambles earlier.
However he has defended his organisation's role in the delays and said that the situation was due to a "very unfortunate set of circumstances".
"At the end of the day, I'm not a construction engineer, I'm not a builder. We're at the hands and the mercy of effectively the Government of India, the Delhi government, the agencies responsible for the delivery of venues. They consistently failed to meet deadlines."
"Renewed deadlines came and went. New reasons for delays kept coming up. Absolutely exasperation from our perspective," he said.
Hooper's organisation is reportedly being sued over the collapse of a pedestrian over-bridge outside Delhi's main stadium.
