Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Anurag Thakur on Tuesday said that the work on the National Sports University in Imphal will be completed soon.Responding to a query during Question Hour in the Lok Sabha, he said that the construction work was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and assured the House that it would be completed soon.He also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had personally encouraged the Indian contingent for the Olympic and Paralympic games before leaving for Tokyo. In the games this year, India won most of its medals, securing the country's best tally.He added that the 'Mission Olympic Cell' for the 2024 games has already started picking up elite athletes to give them good quality training.The government had provided adequate funds for the advance training of Indian athletes for specialised training abroad and that will be continued for the next Olympics.Responding to Congrss MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla's question whether the government plans to set up a sports academy in Amritsar as the people of Punjab have contributed immensely in bringing laurels to the nation, Thakur said that sports is a state subject and that he will give the list of projects to the member.
Also during the Zero Hour, Minister of State for Rural Development Sadhvi Niranjana Jyoti, while replying to BJP Member Shyam Singh Yadav's question whether Ministry of Rural Development will investigate the quality of roads being laid in Uttar Pradesh's Jaunpur, said that for quality control, both central and state labs are working at the sites and in this particular case, she will ask the officials to investigate the quality of the roads built under Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojna (PMGSY) in Jaunpur.BJP member Hema Malini asked whether the government has any plans to reduce the length of the road from five to 2.5 km under PMGSY, replying to which Jyoti said that as of now there was no such proposal.Hema Malini's question was related to rule of minimum length of 5 km under PMGSY, due to which many villages have not been connected with rural roads.When asked by BJP MP Parvesh Sahib Singh whether the Union Home Ministry has collaborated with the Delhi government to curb drug use among children, Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Virendra Kumar said that the ministry has started a 'Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyan'.He also said that the Ministry has been giving grants to NGOs working on helping addicts recover, adding that a helpline number (14446) has been created to help addicts recover and create awareness among people.