To give a major push to the sports activities in the State, the Government will develop massive and sustainable sports infrastructure in the educational institutions.To discuss the action plan to upgrade sportsinfrastructure and requirement of resources in this regard, a high-level meeting was convened here today under the chairmanship of Principal Secretary Finance, Navin K Choudhary.Commissioner/Secretary Higher Education, Sarita Chauhan, Secretary School & Technical Education, Ajeet K Sahu, Director General, Youth Services & Sports, Dr Saleem-ur-Rehman, Directors School Education, Kashmir/Jammu, Dr GN Ittoo& Rakesh K Srangal, Director Colleges and representatives of Jammu University, Cluster University, Principal Government Women’s College, Gandhi Nagar and other officers attended the meeting.Secretary Youth Services & Sports, Sarmad Hafeez attended the meeting through video-conference from Srinagar.Speaking at the meeting Navin Choudhary said the sports are as vital as academic activities for the youth, and Government intends to create ample avenues for the sportspersons to explore their hidden talent so that they can compete at various levels and bring laurels for the State. “For achieving this objective sustainable infrastructure is must and government in committed to develop the world class facilities for the players of various sports in every nook and corner of the State,” he said and added that the existing infrastructure, especially in educational institutions will be upgraded to meet the requirements of the students.
He laid stress on developing dedicated sports infrastructure for the women and asked the concerned to identify such sites, especially in twin capital cities and important districts of the State.After obtaining detailed feed-back from the officers, Principal Secretary Finance asked the Secretary, Youth Services & Sports to frame an inter-departmental official panel to coordinate and suggest the sites and other issues for developing the infrastructure keeping in view the popularity of particular sports in specific areas. He asked for taking expert and technical advice from the Sports Authority of India (SAI), in this regard. He urged for submitting a comprehensive proposal along with estimates to the Government for funding within a period of three weeks.Navin laid emphasis on involvement of all-important educational institutions including, Universities, Colleges and Schools upto secondary level to encourage the students to take part in the sports activities of their choice for which he assured adequate funding to develop multifaceted infrastructure.He laid stress on promotion of traditional sports like, Hockey, Football, Volleyball Basketball, Handball, Cricket, Table Tennis, Lawn Tennis, Badminton, Kabaddi, Wrestling, Athletic, Swimming, Gymnastic, Boxing etc. He also discussed the scenario of Sports Coaches and suggested to utilize the services of some good Physical Teachers and imparting training to them to make best use of their skills. He asked for a separate proposal for the requirement of coaches in different disciplines.