New Delhi, Sep 29 (IANS) Bringing heavy duty equipment and expert staff, top five-star hotel chains, including the Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, are helping in the last-minute massive clean-up drive at the Commonwealth Games Village, officials said.

The hotel chains have come in along with their large housekeeping departments to help in cleaning the rooms at the athlete's village for the Games beginning Oct 3. "Heavy duty equipment have been moved in by five-star hotel chains," a diplomatic source said here Tuesday.

"Several flats had 'pan' (betel nut) stains. It was difficult to remove them with normal cleaning detergents," a CWG Organising Committee official said.

With all the teams set to arrive by Friday, officials are keeping their figures crossed and hoping that the village rooms will be ready before Friday. "We hope that with the hotel chains helping out, the rooms will be soon cleaned up," the official added.

The Games Village has faced a lot of criticism over the state of the residential zone - with photos of pan-stained bathrooms, muddy beddings and crumbling flats splashed all over the media.

It led to a massive outcry, after which the CWG Organising Committee along with the Delhi government had to finally scramble to get their act together for the cleaning up process.

The issue became further dire after diplomats of the Commonwealth nations got access to the residential zone over the last weekend.

While the flats for Australia, Canada and New Zealand were relatively better, Asian and African diplomats expressed worry over cleanliness and had given a deadline for completion of work.

Some 7,000 participants and officials from 71 countries and territories are expected to attend the Oct 3-14 Commonwealth Games -- India's biggest sporting event since the 1982 Asian Games.