Minister for Sports and Technical Education Imran Raza Ansari today said the government has undertaken large scale measures to develop high level infrastructure in the state besides launching new initiatives including Skill Development Mission, Heritage Craft Course, Special Package for Development of Sports Infrastructure in J&K State, increasing the aegis of annual sports activities for systematic growth of these sectors.Winding up the discussion on Demand of Grants for Sports and Technical Education, the Minister said the department has developed large scale infrastructure with special attention to growth of rural and far flung areas in the state.Enumerating on various steps taken for development of sports, the Minister said that a Special Package for Development of Sports Infrastructure in J&K State at Rs 200 crore has been approved by the Government of India. The package provides for renovation/upgradation of existing MAM Stadium Jammu & Bakshi Stadium Srinagar at cost of Rs 84 crore, he added.Ansari said that during 2015-16 the implementation of centrally sponsored scheme ‘Khelo India’ was also taken up in the state with special attention to the rural breadths.The Minister further said that canvas of annual sports activities has also been expanded and as many as 46 sports disciplines (against 44 sports disciplines in 2015-16) have been included in the Annual sports calendar 2016-17 of the Department.Coaching facilities in different sports discipline are also being made available to youth during 2016-17 at various district headquarters viz Srinagar, Jammu, Kathua, Rajouri, Poonch, Pulwama, Anantnag, Baramulla & Bandipora, he added.Asserting the need of engaging sports talent and faculty, the Minister said that 361 Physical Education Teachers have been appointed during the current year on the recommendations of Service Selection Board.
The Minister said that New Campus for Government College of Physical Education, Ganderbal has been constructed at Gadoora Ganderbal at a cost of Rs 3039.04 lakh. Besides, the Department has already completed 222 playfields during the last year under State/District Sectors with work for 340 numbers of playfields being taken up during the current financial year for development in the State with an allocation of Rs 604.27 lakh.The Department is further targeting 350 numbers of playfields all over the State including rural/urban areas for development subject to the availability of funds under District/ State during the next financial year provided adequate funds are available”, the Minister informed.Further, during the last two years, Ansari said the Sports Council has developed 43 playfields in various parts of the State, including the construction of new indoor complex at MAM Stadium, Jammu, Indoor stadium at Akhnoor, Indoor hall at Polo ground west Srinagar and new Indoor complex at mini stadium Baramulla. The indoor halls at PVC Bana Singh R.S. Pora, and Udhampur have recently been completed, he said.Residential coaching campus in preparation of State teams for zonal & national events were organized by Sports Council in the state in Sport Climbing, Volleyball, Basketball, Boxing, Yoga, Handball, Cycling, Shooting, Badminton, Hockey, Judo, Kho-Kho, Kabbadi, Rugby, Thangta, Cycle Polo, Kayaking & Canoeing and Football, he said.“The youth of the state represented the state and country in various national and international competitions in over 34 sports disciplines during the current year and brought laurels by excelling in respective disciplines", the Minister informed.
The Minister informed the house that in continuation with its efforts, the Department is hosting two more National School Games events in month of February, 2017 at Jammu in Cricket U-17 years (girls) and Tennis Cricket, U-19 years (boys).While giving details about Rehbar-e-Khel, the Minister said there is demand for introduction of Rehbar-e-Khel in the State which can provide employment to the youth who have acquired degrees in Physical Education.“A proposal for introduction of Rehbar-e-Khel Scheme involving creation of 7311 posts of Physical Education Teachers have been formulated and is under active consideration of the Government,” he said. “The matter has been submitted to the Finance Department, as the scheme has huge financial implications.”Detailing about the progressive steps constantly being taken up under the aegis of Technical Education Department, the Minister informed that Skill Development Mission has been launched in the State with experts already been roped in for skill gap identification and skill mapping.
“Plans are afoot to train youth in large numbers and also provide certification and recognition to prior learning,” the Minister said.Ansari detailed that under the new initiative Heritage Craft Course, Ansari said that necessary training infrastructure has been put in place in institutes in Jammu and Kashmir areas where as many as 378 candidates are currently under training, the number for which is expected to rise with every new batch. The Department has also introduced popular Heritage Craft courses in all its polytechnics and ITI's, he added.
The Minister informed that the department has huge network of 24 government and 09 private Polytechnics, 54 government ITI's and 45 private ITI's with 6000 intake capacity in the Polytechnic sector and 19000 intake capacity in ITI's in place for the benefits of the youth of the state.An exercise is also being undertaken in the Polytechnic sector to have rationalization of trades by relocating existing resources and introducing new courses to cater to local demand and job trends", the Minister added.The Minister informed the House that an academic audit cum inspection is being undertaken for evaluation of all technical institutes in the state and measures are also being taken to ensure availability of staff at polytechnics in rural and far off districts and for making equitable distribution of manpower.“Efforts are being made to empower the State Board of Technical Education for making admissions to seats remaining vacant after BOPEE counselling,” Ansari added.Earlier, several members took part in the discussion on Demand of Grants for Education and Youth Services and Sports Departments. They included R S Pathania, Javid Hassan Beigh, Bashir Ahmad Dar, Dileep Singh Parihar, Ch. Qamar Hussain, Engineer Abdul Rashid, Ravinder Raina and Abdul Rahim Rather.The cut motions which were moved by the members were withdrawn after the satisfactory reply by the Minister. Later, the House passed the grants of Education Department, for the year 2017-18, moved by the Minister, amounting to Rs135818.51 lakh with voice vote.