NEW DELHI, Sept 26 Workers painted walls, drained out rainwater and removed a snake at the Commonwealth Games Village as India raced on Sunday to address complaints of filth and hygiene a week before the start of the showpiece event.

National teams arriving at the athletes' village were greeted by a massive clean-up operation as extra staff tackled uncompleted apartments, dirty toilets and piles of builders' rubbish.

The Commonwealth Games Federation denied it had failed to supervise Delhi during preparations for the event, which Indian leaders had hoped would be a demonstration of the nation's recent economic progress.

Federation chief executive Mike Hooper on Sunday pinned the blame squarely on Indian officials.

“I'm not a construction engineer. I'm not a builder. We're at the hands and the mercy of, effectively, the government of India, the Delhi government, the agencies responsible for delivery of the venues,” he said.

“Renewed deadlines came and went. New reasons for delays kept coming up. Absolutely exasperation from our perspective,” Mr Hooper, a New Zealander, told Television New Zealand.

Problems facing the Games range from shabby accommodation to security fears, an outbreak of dengue fever and doubts about public safety after the collapse of a new footbridge next to the main stadium on Wednesday.

Snake in room

South African High Commissioner Harris Mbulelo Mejeke complained a snake was found in one room at the village, the Press Trust of India reported on Sunday, while Indian boxer Akhil Kumar said his bed collapsed as soon as he sat on it.

“That was really a threat to the lives of our athletes,” Mr Mejeke said, complaining of filth in the living quarters. “When everything is done, then we will ask our teams to come.”

“Labourers have done a very bad job. They had spit 'paan' on the walls, stains of which are almost irremovable,” Lalit Bhanot, secretary-general of the Games organising committee, said.

Several top athletes, including world champion sprinter Usain Bolt, have pulled out, taking away some of the shine from the event held every four years for former British colonies.

In the latest withdrawals, two Australian athletes pulled out, citing health concerns and the risk of a militant attack.

Cyclist Travis Meyer and table tennis player Stephanie Sang joined high-profile withdrawals on similar grounds as given by English Olympic 400m gold medalist Christine Ohuruogu, world triple jump champion Phillips Idowu and Australian world discus champion Dani Samuels.

The threat of whole teams withdrawing has receded, and the rest of Australia's participants begin arriving in New Delhi on Monday.

On Sunday, about 20 support staff from England moved into the Games village ahead of the athletes.

The English men's hockey side were forced to book into a hotel when they landed in Delhi because their apartments were unusable.

The Times Now news channel said about 150 rooms meant for athletes were unlivable.

“It was very, very bad when we arrived,” Jefri Ngadirin, the team manager for Malaysia, said at the athletes' village. “We're working hard to get things OK for when our athletes fly in.”

Mr Ngadirin said he had been lifting furniture, cleaning rooms and lobbying Indian officials to repair air-conditioning units and taps.

“The organisers promised to help us and now they have got a lot more people,” he said. “Progress is good. They just didn't plan ahead. This place should have been ready in July, but our hopes were dashed when we saw it.”

India had hoped to use the Games to display its growing global economic and political influence, rivaling China which put on a spectacular 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.

Instead, they have become a major embarrassment for the world's largest democracy, where infrastructure projects have progressed slowly and are a drag on economic growth.

Desperate officials on Friday asked the Indian Army to build a temporary bridge to replace the $1.1 million footbridge that collapsed last week. The bridge, providing access to the main Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, should be finished within five days. —Agencies