Preparations for the Commonwealth Games closing ceremony were in chaos on Wednesday night as Indian organisers made a series of last-minute changes and Scottish performers were left without security passes they required to take part.
About 350 volunteers from throughout Scotland are in New Delhi to perform an eight-minute show to promote the next Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014.
But on Wednesday night, Indian officials had still not issued security accreditation passes to 40 of the performers while British officials and members of the Glasgow Games Organising Committee were left in the dark over when they will perform their showcase.
Frustrated insiders said it was another example of the chaos which had characterised the Games in New Delhi and that the last-minute confusion was "par for the course".
India's preparations for hosting the Games had been beset by construction delays, corruption allegations, terrorism fears and tropical diseases, as heavy monsoon rains caused an outbreak of dengue fever.
In the fortnight before the Games began, a footbridge leading to the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium collapsed injuring 27 workers, one of whom remains in a coma. Officials drafted in hundreds of housekeeping staff from the city's five star hotels to clean up athletes' accommodation after photographs revealed flooded rooms, human excrement in the showers and animal paw prints on the beds.
But British officials, and members of a delegation led by Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond, have been frustrated in their attempts to finalise arrangements for Glasgow's showcase in the closing ceremony, because of the failure of their Indian counterparts to decide their own programme.
As late as Wednesday night Indian officials were working on new plans to include a performance by disabled dancers.
A spokesman for the Commonwealth Games Federation confirmed there had been problems in issuing accreditation passes to some Scottish performers, but said its security advisors had been assured by New Delhi's Commissioner of Police that the matter would be resolved.
"The Indian creative-ideas people have been through changes in the last week, but we have an eight-minute segment and that's not affected," a Glasgow Games spokesman said.
Organisers believe their problems will be resolved in time but are concerned the growing Indian programme could affect broadcast times and the television audience for Glasgow's showcase.
Sources: telegraph.co.uk
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