'Delhiites should change behaviour before Commonwealth Games'

Delhiites, change the way you behave.

This was the message Home Minister P Chidambaram gave to Delhiites on Tuesday ahead of the Commonwealth Games next year.

He pointed out that Germany and China had made enormous efforts to change their citizens' habits before hosting mega sporting events.

"We cannot expect mega city policing function properly if people do not change their behaviour. We still find vehicles jumping red lights and police vehicles are not excluded, they too jump red lights," he said at a function to inaugurate 22 newly-created police stations in New Delhi.

"Then there are vehicles running without registration plates, some are crossing roads where they should not. People are not using overground or underground passes. We want to encourage people to change their mindset," Chidambaram said.

His comments came after Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit said at the function that her government is starting a campaign to change the way the people behave so that they become more caring and sharing.

Chidambaram said people should seize the opportunity presented by the Commonwealth Games to change their behaviour.

"People come to Delhi. This is the capital and we cannot stop people. But if they come to Delhi, they themselves will have to adhere to the behavioural requirement, the discipline of the city," he said.

"We must behave as citizens of a big, good international city," Chidambaram said.

Observing that people in the city often do not obey traffic rules, he said the national capital needs to change its mindset.

He noted that Germany had initiated a three-year programme to change the behavioural pattern of its citizens before it organised Football World Cup in 2006 while China ran maximum number of teaching programmes before the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

During a recent meeting of Heads of Missions on security arrangements for Commonwealth Games, High Commissioner of Mauritius M Choonee said the government should tell Delhi drivers to drive in lanes.

"Delhi drivers are very bad. They do not drive in lanes. Please ask them to drive in lanes," Choonee said.