Minister for Forest, Ecology and Environment, Choudhary Lal Singh today visited K K Hakku Astro Turf stadium and inspected the sports infrastructure being provided to the Hockey players there.He was accompanied by President Hockey J&K, Kanta Andotra. Officers of Sports Council and representatives of K K Hakku Astro Turf Stadium were present on the occasion.Interacting with the hockey players, the Minister highlighted various reformative steps being taken up by the government for making available all necessary sports facilities to the players of the state especially those living in rural and far-off pockets.Choudhary Lal Singh said that the government is also initiating various measures to promote rural conventional sports of the State. He said that massive sports infrastructure has been created across the state to revive the sports culture and groom the enormous talent of the youth. He said government is making all out efforts to organize more sports events at district level especially hockey tournaments to boost the confidence of the players.
The Minister further said there is no dearth of talent in the State and the need is to provide them with an opportunity to display their talent on national and international forums.Choudhary Lal Singh said that Government has started several mega projects to strengthen and upgrade sports infrastructure adding that funds worth crore of rupees have been earmarked for construction of stadiums in tehsil and district levels so that sports lovers could get sports education in their respective districts to facilitate their participation in the national and international events.President Hockey Jammu and Kashmir Kanta Andotra informed that Government has earmarked Rs. 4 crore for up gradation of K K Hakku Astro Turf adding that the up gradation work woud be started after completing codel formalities.Responding to the hockey players demand, Kanta Andotra asked accompanied sports officer to install two water coolers at the stadium for the convenience of the players. She said that concerted efforts are on to upgrade infrastructure in every nook and corner of the State so that the players do not face any inconvenience.