'The Commonwealth Games have brought nothing good. They only cause destruction'

"Any day now they (the police) could turn up and we will be kicked out on to the streets," she says, weary with worry.

The ramshackle hut she calls home is in her nation's sprawling capital, Delhi. It sit precariously on the edge of a man-made concrete canyon that will become a major artery carrying vehicles from Indira Gandhi International Airport to a new hotel about half a mile away. Both the motorway and hotel are being built as part of a transformation of Delhi for the 19th Commonwealth Games (CWG), which are due to take place in the city from October 3-14.

With just over a week to go until the opening ceremony, however, the city is in chaos and an event that was supposed to announce to the world that India was an emerging superpower – while showcasing Delhi as a world-class metropolis fit for the international spotlight – is verging on becoming a national embarrassment due to a raft of human rights violations and a seemingly endless number of scandals. The latest surrounds conditions at the athletes' village which may put the whole event in doubt. As organisers rushed to allay fears, a bridge being built near the main stadium collapsed, injuring 23 labourers. The city, in parts, resembles a massive building site with venues and roads that should have been completed months ago battling against the clock, a dire situation exacerbated by an unusually heavy monsoon season.

Indeed, it would appear that Lord Indra, the Hindu rain God, may be somewhat displeased at recent events. These include allegations of corruption that have dogged the Games for months and led to the suspension of several senior officials and repeated calls for Suresh Kalmadi, chairman of the Games' organising committee, to resign. India was hoping that its tourist industry would benefit greatly from hosting such a prestigious sporting event, but it appears that many people have decided to stay away with hotels reporting a marked shortfall in expected tourists. The lack of interest may be due to fears over security but this has been compounded by ongoing problems and an outbreak of dengue fever.

While China impressed the world with the Beijing Olympics, India's preparation, in stark comparison, has bordered on inept. What has become clear is that the human cost of the CWG has been staggering, as Fulan Devi and her neighbours will attest to. They were among some 18,000 Dalits – a caste known as The Untouchables or Slumdogs – facing homelessness to make way for stadiums and new roads.

"We've no place to go when we finally get evicted and I have no idea what to do," Fulan says, as she watches workmen toiling below in temperatures of 35C and 100 per cent humidity. She does not blame them, though, just the politicians and an indifferent society that treats her caste with disdain.

This area of the city is called Okha and some 500 families have already been displaced to make way for the underpass. Fulan knows it is only a matter of time before she faces the same fate and joins the estimated 150,000 homeless people in Delhi who sleep rough every night under flyovers and on pavements at the mercy of swarms of mosquitoes.

Across the concrete chasm that bisects Fulan's community, people who were her close neighbours until last year claim they were lied to

by government officials who promised they would be re-housed.

Ram Parasad, his wife and five sons, were among those forcibly removed by police with bulldozers in February 2009, when work on the underpass began. "We took our case to the High Court, but the government argued that we have no rights, citing a legal precedent from 1999 when other Dalit settlements were demolished. Those people were similarly denied any compensation. The Commonwealth Games have brought nothing good. It has only caused destruction," Parasad says angrily.

One of the many financial scandals surrounding the CWG involved the Dalits. According to Umesh Babu, of the National Campaign for Dalits' Human Rights, official documents obtained under India's Right to Information Act by a NGO called the Housing and Land Rights Network, revealed that more than 100m allocated to lift under-privileged low caste communities out of poverty were diverted to fund Games-related projects.

The Delhi state government was supposed to spend the money on schools and medical facilities for the city's estimated 2.3 million Dalits but instead, they spent the cash on beautifying the city centre, putting up street lights and providing fresh water to the athletes' village.

Elsewhere, street vendors have been targeted by the authorities who have designated zero tolerance zones ahead of the competition in a move that has robbed thousands of people of their livelihoods. Mukat Sharma, of the National Association of Street Vendors India, says that at least 8,000 workers from 25 markets near stadiums have been evicted without being offered compensation. "It's a hand-to- mouth existence at the best of times for these people as they are constantly harassed by police and officials seeking bribes but now they have nothing," he says.

In the Rohini district in the north of Delhi, miles away from CWG

venues, we meet vendors at Rajapur market who have had their goods confiscated by the police the day before. Deepak Jyotha was among dozens of people targeted by police when they raided the market

en masse and confiscated her stock of bananas.

"The police were very heavy handed with sticks and threw fruit over the ground. I've worked here for six years. My husband, Suresh, and I earn about 5,000 rupees (70) per month. We have two boys and a girl and our rent for one room is 2,500 rupees a month, so we have no idea how we will eat and pay bills," she said. Other vendors in the locality are defiant, manning their stalls despite the threat of a possible beating from the police. They include 60-year-old Jagesh Lal, who sits cross-legged upon his banana stall. "I've sold in this market for 25 years. What am I supposed to do? It is good that India should host the Games but ordinary people should not be made to suffer," he says.

Across the city at New Delhi Railway Station the following day, we witness first-hand the Delhi government's drive to keep beggars off the streets as part of its "Incredible India" tourism campaign to clean up the city for the Games.

The government has formed nine teams to round up beggars and declared 12 "zero-tolerance zones" and two mobile courts are in operation to prosecute anyone caught begging, including children.

We join a team of five undercover police officers and an employee of the government's social welfare department who tour the area until they catch two men begging on steps leading down to the metro. Anil Kumar and Raghu Veer are filmed then arrested and taken to one of the mobile courts parked nearby where they are questioned.

Both men are later charged under the Bombay Prevention of Begging Act 1959. It is Kumar's first offence so the judge lets him off with a warning, but it's Veer's second arrest for begging in 10 days and he is sentenced to a year in detention. The magistrate, TS Mutti, says around 60 people a week are being caught under the act but denies claims by NGOs that the measures were draconian, arguing they were necessary

and just. It's not a view shared by Sanjay Kumar, director with the Campaign for the Rights of the Homeless.

"All the government cares about is giving the world the impression that it is a modern, clean city. People are being jailed for begging to get money to eat and for not being able to provide ID. The authorities work on the basis that first-time offenders are sentenced to a period of one year up to three years, second-time offenders for six years, and 10 years incarceration for a third offence. It is outrageous to say the least," he says. In the face of strong international criticism, though, Commonwealth Games chairman Suresh Kalmadi promises that Delhi is on track to deliver a world-class event.

"Leaving aside some minor glitches, all the infrastructure is in place and it is world class," he says, citing similar criticisms aimed at South Africa before this summer's World Cup. "I assure you with these Games, Delhi will be emerging as the next big sporting hub in the world."