NEW DELHI: With less than 500 days left for the Commonwealth Games to be hosted in the city, the government is looking to set its volunteer programme off the ground.

At a routine review of the Commonwealth Games projects by the sports ministry, all the agencies involved were asked to step up the pace, even as the volunteer programmes came into focus. More than 25,000 volunteers will be participating in the Games in various capacities, including security, at entry-exit points, catering and other spheres. The issue at the moment, said sources, was the selection of the training venues. "To train this large scale of people, an appropriate venue needs to be selected, as the training would go on for more than a week,'' said a senior official who attended the meeting. Apart from the training, preparations for providing uniforms, equipment, transport to the volunteers as well as providing accommodation to them need to be finalised.

"However, before starting selections, the calendar of test events need to be chalked out. These are basically a set of events before the Games which would be used for a final review of venues and other preparations. The organising committee is to set these days, which have not been finalised yet,'' added sources. According to officials, while the organising committee has given some dates, others still need to be decided.

Also to come up in the course of the meeting were the various civil works that are in the process of completion by various agencies. Sources said the ministry wanted the projects to get into higher gear as other Games-related work was being held up till the completion of these projects. "Till these projects are completed, other works like the number of seating in stadia and related over-lay functions are not going to be able to take off,'' added the source. To ensure that these projects get time, the civil works need to be completed on schedule, said officials.

Talking about the civil works under the Delhi government, chief secretary, Rakesh Mehta, said all projects were going on schedule. "All the projects that are being undertaken by the Delhi government have met their scheduled deadlines, and will be completed on time,'' said Mehta. Meanwhile, sources in DDA also confirmed that the Games Village project was on schedule, with the latest routine check by the land disposal agency reflecting the deadline status. The agencies at the meeting included the sports authority, organising committee, DDA and Delhi government.