Commonwealth Games 2010: A progress report

A soldier stands guard inside the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium during its inauguration ceremony on 27 July. The stadium was rebuilt for the Commonwealth Games which begin on 3 October Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters

Outside the stadium, on the same day, however, there is still much work to do as labourers complete the arena. The Games have been plagued by delays in the construction of infrastructure and venues, which should have been finished months ago for test events but instead are just getting under way Photograph: Mustafa Quraishi/AP

Residents living in a slum area watch as a bulldozer grades land in front of their homes near a newly dug road in April. Members of 12 families had been farming for four generations on this land but they had to vacate them for the Games. The Delhi Development Authority, or DDA, served eviction notices to approximately 300 tenants even though the families paid rent through 2009. Photograph: Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images

A supporter of Communist Party of India Marxist-Leninist-New Democracy (CPI-ML) holds a placard against the forcible removal of people from their homes. Protesters in March were also angry because of diesel, cooking gas and milk price increases in the state government's 2010-11 budget Photograph: Raveendran/AFP/Getty Images

Residents living in a slum remove bricks to relocate their home. The tenants took the matter to civil court but the bulldozers were due to level their huts and residences before their July 2009 court date. Photograph: Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images

Indian labourers carry bricks at a construction site in New Delhi in June as organisers desperately try to complete changes to the city's infrastructure. Photograph: Raveendran/AFP/Getty Images

While the red carpet was rolled out for the inauguration ceremony of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, some commentators have raised concerns that the cost of putting on the Games (up to £4bn) could have been better spent in reducing poverty. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters

Even India's sacred animal, the cow, has not been spared from the clean-up operation in New Delhi. Special teams of cow-herders have been employed to round up the cows to prevent them blocking traffic during the Commonwealth Games. Photograph: AP

The organisers have insisted that venues will be ready on time, despite having left themselves a huge amount of construction to do in the run-up to the Games as this image of a labourer at the Thyagraj sports complex in February last year shows. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters

Leftover construction material (bottom) in the seating stands of the newly inaugurated RK Khanna Tennis Stadium on 11 July. Photograph: Manan Vatsyayana/AFP/Getty Images

An inside view of an apartment at the Games village in March. The village for athletes and officials is still to be completed. Photograph: Vijay Mathur/Reuters