For MP Suresh Kalmadi, the legacy of the Games will be the spruced-up Balewadi Stadium complex. "The sports city will become a tourist venue," he said. The Garden of Youth on the complex would be another memento, he said.

Municipal Commissioner Praveensinh Pardeshi sees it from another perspective: "The infrastructural improvements that will remain with the city include the completion of the railway underpass, the VIP Airport Road and the Baner, Sinhagad, Ganeshkhind and Nehru roads. Development of many of these roads had been held up because of land acquisition disputes and court stays. The CYG enabled us to reach a consensus and acquire all," he said.

He cited the actual cost of CYG work at Rs 434 crore instead of Rs 2,500 crore - which included projects not specific to the CYG. "The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) contributed 50 per cent of this amount," he said.

He mentions many projects undertaken by the PMC: two subways, beautification of the Pashan and Katraj lakes, a bio-diversity park at Baner, rehabilitation of four slums, better streetlights, street signs and furniture, 53 km of footpaths, 200 new civic buses and another 300 buses on hire, 200 km of storm water drains and reinstating of electrical wires under pavement blocks.

"All of these are fundamental changes. Of course many superficial things have also been done but they are also necessary to give the city a good look," he said.

The projects that couldn't be completed include the Alandi link road and a parking lot at Baner Road, he conceded.

Activist Vijay Kumbhar, president of the Surajya Sangharsh Samiti, feels the only legacy that will remain is that of the sports city. And it will not benefit the common man much. "The last-minute haste at which the infrastructure work was done casts doubt over its quality. It will not last. The city expected and deserved much more from the CYG," he said.

(Concluded)

GAMES AND GAINS

CYG 2008, PUNE

Baner subway: 7.26 cr

Wider Baner Road: 26.24 cr

Development, Sancheti Hospital to UoP circle: 37.74 cr

Pedestrian subway, Zilla Parishad: 5.45 cr

Pedestrain subway, railway station: 5.10 cr

Airport Road-Gunjan Talkies to

Wider stretch, VIP road-Airport to Ramwadi Octroi: 14.21 cr

Wider Nehru Road: 33.77 cr

Tata Guard Room: 30.41 cr

1982 ASIAD, DELHI

Pragati Maidan, Games village, hotels, flyovers and roads

2010 C'WEALTH GAMES, DELHI

50 projects worth $298 m. Flyovers, bypasses broader roads, larger Metro network, several sophisticated transport systems