SRINAGAR: Union Secretary of Sports Rajiv Yadav today said the Rs 200-crore special package announced under the Prime Minister’s Development Package for Jammu and Kashmir will boost the sports infrastructure of the state, as “state of art” facilities would be developed in the capital cities of Srinagar and Jammu.
“The PMDP is set to boost sports infrastructure as state of art sports facilities will be developed in Srinagar and Jammu. Indoor sports halls will also be developed in all 22 districts,” he said at a high level meeting with state government officials led by Chief Secretary B R Sharma here.
The Union Secretary, who arrived here to review the implementation of the sports package, said creation of water sports infrastructure would receive special focus under the PMDP.
“The Union Sports Ministry will also be conducting eight weeks certificate courses for coaches from J&K. Till date 171 applications have been received for the program, which will commence from November 1 at Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports (NIS), Patiala,” he said.
The sports infrastructure would be developed through agencies of the Union and the state government namely National Projects Construction Corporation (NPCC) and J&K Sports Council respectively, an official spokesman said.
He said Rs 84 crore would be spent on developing Bakhshi Stadium, Srinagar and Maulana Azad Memorial (MAM) Stadium, Jammu along with facilities of synthetic tracks and turf for athletics and hockey, and swimming pools.
A sum of Rs 2.63 crore would be spent on lighting system in synthetic football ground at Tourist Reception Centre (TRC) and Gani memorial stadium, Srinagar.
Similarly, Rs 6 crore has been earmarked for development of infrastructure for water sports activities in the state, the spokesman said, adding all these components of the package would be executed by the Union Government through National Projects Construction Corporation (NPCC).
A team of NPCC had visited Bakhshi Stadium, Srinagar and MAM Stadium, Jammu in the month of September for inspection and preliminary study, following which a presentation on the design of the stadiums was made, he said.
He said a tripartite agreement is in the process of being signed by Government of India, state government and the NPCC.
J&K Sports Council has already set in motion the process for the construction of multipurpose indoor sports halls, the spokesman said, adding locations in 12 districts have been identified and DPRs of these have been formulated.
For expediting identification of land in the remaining districts, Secretary Youth Services and Sports Department was asked to coordinate with the respective Deputy Commissioners, he said.
Under the project, he said an amount of Rs 4 crore would be spent in upgrading existing stadiums in Poonch and Rajouri districts for which works have been awarded.
Similarly, the formulation of DPR for construction of an outdoor stadium at Udhampur is under process, he said.
Meanwhile, the spokesman said the Chief Secretary has instructed that two sub-committees headed by the respective Divisional Commissioners be constituted to facilitate coordination in the implementation of the Sports package and to timely address any arising issue.
The Union Secretary also visited Bakshi Stadium, Indoor Stadium, TRC Astro Turf Stadium and Polo Ground here.
He also directed overhead bridges between Bakshi and Indoor stadiums.–PTI
