The Commonwealth Games Federation head has demanded the Indian government take immediate steps to improve conditions at the athletes' village in Delhi.
Team delegates have described the accommodation as filthy, unhygienic and unfit for human habitation.
But organisers of the event, which runs from 3 to 14 October, said the facilities would be excellent.
Meanwhile, police said 23 labourers were injured as a bridge being built near the main Games venue collapsed.
Clearly, the 'Indian way' hasn't worked - and the Games are turning out to be India's bonfire of vanities"
End Quote Soutik Biswas BBC Delhi online correspondentIt is the latest setback to an event plagued by construction delays, allegations of corruption and a dengue fever outbreak in the Indian capital.
New Zealand, Scotland, Canada and Northern Ireland have demanded their teams be put up in hotels if their accommodation is not ready.
Michael Fennell, the Commonwealth Games Federation president, said he had written to the Indian cabinet secretary urging immediate action.
He said "many issues remain unresolved" and the athletes' village was "seriously compromised".
Although team officials had been impressed with the international zone and main dining area, he continued, they had been "shocked" by the state of the accommodation itself.
"The village is the cornerstone of any Games and the athletes deserve the best possible environment to prepare for their competition," Mr Fennell added.
Indian media is reporting that only 18 of 34 residential towers at the village are complete.
The collapse of a footbridge near the main venue is the latest setback Two days before the village officially opens to the first of 7,000 athletes and officials, New Zealand chef de mission Dave Currie suggested the Games might even be cancelled.
He said toilets in the accommodation were leaking and did not flush, and there were piles of building debris in bathrooms.
Mr Currie told New Zealand commercial radio on Tuesday: "If the village is not ready and athletes can't come, obviously the implications of that are that it's not going to happen.
"It's pretty grim really and certainly disappointing when you consider the amount of time they had to prepare."
Analysis
The Games village - made up of several blocks of high-rise luxury flats for the athletes who are due to begin arriving on Friday - was meant to be the event's showpiece.
The chief of the organising committee, Suresh Kalmadi, had said it would be better than the village at the Beijing Olympics.
Now his words are coming back to haunt him. Advance teams have described the state of the flats as shocking.
The village itself has been built on the banks of the Yamuna river. Just outside it are pools of green, stagnant water left over from flooding after Delhi's worst monsoon in three decades.
It's a breeding ground for mosquitoes and has raised fears of disease - there have been nearly 100 cases of dengue fever over the past month.
The organisers now certainly have their work cut out.
Team Scotland said in a statement that on arrival in Delhi last week their officials found "its allocated accommodation blocks were far from finished and in their view, unsafe and unfit for human habitation".
Commonwealth Games England called for "urgent" work on the facilities, raising concerns about "plumbing, electrical and other operational details".
Australia's chef de mission, retired marathon runner Steve Moneghetti, said in Melbourne the hosts "have got two days to do what's probably going to take about two weeks".
Just when organisers thought the news could not get any worse, 23 construction workers were injured, five seriously, as an elevated footbridge gave way near the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, police said.
It is not clear what caused the collapse of the walkway, which was being built to link a car park to the arena, where the Games opening ceremony is to take place.
Delhi government's Chief Secretary, Rakesh Mehta, told Indian TV the bridge was cemented earlier on Tuesday.
Lalit Bhanot, secretary general of the organising committee, said in a news conference that the athletes' accommodation needed a "deep cleaning", but everything would be ready on time.
2010 COMMONWEALTH GAMES
- It is the first time India has hosted the Commonwealth Games
- 7,000 athletes and officials from more than 70 Commonwealth teams competing in 260 events in 17 disciplines
- Opening ceremony on 3 October at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium
"According to us the room may be clean, but the foreign officials may require a certain standard of cleanliness and hygiene which may differ from our standards," he said.
"We are on the job and everyone is working day and night."
He added: "All other things and all other venues are ready and in the best of condition to conduct these events."
There have also been safety concerns surrounding the Games, heightened on the weekend when gunmen shot and wounded two tourists near Delhi's Jama Masjid, one of India's biggest mosques.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11379020
England and Scotland raise doubts over Commonwealths | |||
England and Scotland's Commonwealth Games teams are concerned the poor quality of the athletes village in Delhi may put the whole event in doubt. Scottish officials found their original accommodation to be "unsafe and unfit for human habitation". England are "optimistic" they will compete but say urgent work is needed before the Games begin on 3 October. But Welsh officials are content with their headquarters and believe that organisers "should be able to do it". Northern Ireland's first representatives are leaving for India on Tuesday and have lined up alternative accommodation in case their scheduled quarters are not ready.
Building works have fallen well behind schedule in the build-up to the Games and Thursday's official opening of the village to 7,000 athletes and officials now looms large. Commonwealth Games Federation chief Michael Fennell, who has written to the Indian government expressing his concern over progress, has warned that security around the site has delayed improvements. "Many nations that have already sent their advanced parties to set up within the village have made it abundantly clear that, as of the afternoon of 20 September, the Commonwealth Games Village is seriously compromised," he said. However Randhir Singh, vice-president of the event's organising committee, is confident that the village will be delivered as promised. "There were some flats that the labour force was working on and they had dirtied certain other flats," stated Singh.  | |||
Click to play
Mike Hooper, CEO Commonwealth Games Federation: "The word filthy is almost generous"
"They will be looked into and I'm sure there will be no problem. We still have two days for the teams to come and the situation will be under control."
Sports minister Hugh Robertson said it would be "an utter tragedy" if the Games did not go ahead, although he remained confident all the issues and problems could be resolved and the event would start on time.
Scotland claim that the accommodation they were allocated on arrival was unfinished but that they encountered problems even after being moved to a completed section.
Team officials, with the help of Games volunteers, cleaned the seven-storey building themselves to bring conditions up to an acceptable standard.
"We now have grave concerns as to whether the village as a whole will meet the health and safety standards required," read a statement.
Scotland have called on the Commonwealth Games Federation "to make a realistic decision as to at what point and under what conditions...the Games will be able to go ahead should the village issues not be resolved".
India's monsoon weather has revealed new plumbing and electrical problems ahead of the arrival of England's first athletes on Thursday.
"Commonwealth Games England remains optimistic that England participation at the Games can go ahead," read a statement.
"However there is a lot still to be done in the Village and this needs to be done with some urgency."
Wales have previously lodged a formal complaint over conditions in the village. However, chef de mission Chris Jenkins is now confident his team's accommodation is on track.
"It's in a good state now: it's clean, the plumbing's working, the wiring's working, the electric is working, the air conditioning works, the medical clinic is pretty much set up," he told BBC Sport Wales.
"They should be able to do it, they have enough time but time is running out, they've got to start now on these towers."
New Zealand team manager David Currie was less optimistic.
He has found alternative rooms for his country's 300-strong contingent of athletes and officials and believes the whole event may be in danger.
"If the village is not ready and athletes can't come, obviously the implications of that are that it's not going to happen," he told New Zealand radio network Newstalk ZB.
"Unless there is tremendous effort and energy and problem-solving ability to get it done, it's going to be extremely hard to get across the line."
However, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key played down the implications of Currie's downbeat assessment.
"I think he was just reflecting the frustrations we had expressed to us overnight," he said.
"I wouldn't say that means the Commonwealth Games would be off. It's unlikely that New Zealand would make a call [to pull out] that other countries weren't prepared to make."
Australia and Canada are the other two teams to have set up camp in Delhi at the earliest opportunity.
Australia's chef de mission Steve Moneghetti said his officials "didn't seem that concerned about the overall condition of the village" but claimed organisers "have got two days to do what's probably going to take about two weeks".
Meanwhile, Australia's world champion discus thrower Dani Samuels, 22, has pulled out of the Games because of concerns over safety, according to reports in the Sydney Morning Herald.
And heptathlete Kelly Sotherton, who is not representing England because of a back injury, said she was relieved not to be going.
On her page on social networking site Twitter, she said: "It's enough to worry about performing but worry where you sleep and walk is another thing."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/commonwealth_games/delhi_2010/9018515.stm
__._,_.___
