Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that a massive statue of Rani Kamlapati will be established in Bhopal. Recalling the struggle and sacrifice of forest dwellers in the freedom movement he said that the Vanvasi samaj made great sacrifices in the fight for freedom. He said that the state government has got the memorials of vanvasi martyrs constructed to take inspiration from their memories.
Chouhan was addressing the inaugural programme of the 20th Rashtriya Vanvasi Sports Competition organised at Kamla Devi Public School Bhopal today. He recalled the struggle and sacrifice of Birsa Bhagwan, Veer Tantya Bhil, Bhima Nayak, Raghunath Shah, Shankar Shah, Rani Durgawati and Kamlapati on the occasion. Recalling the founders of Vanvasi Kalyan Parishad he said that the role of the Parishad in running more than 3,000 sports centres, education, health and social service is commendable. The Chief Minister inaugurated the contest after hoisting the flag and released souveneir Aranyanjali.
The called upon the players to give their best performance and play with sportsman spirit. He hoped that the gold medal for archery will be bagged by Indian players at the Olympics soon. He said that an archery academy has been established at Jabalpur to give opportunities to the tribal archers to nurture their talent in Mahakaushal and to make the best training facilities available to them. He said that all players who have come for the competition are guests of the state. These players should be taken on a tour round Bhopal and surrounding areas as and when possible.
Sports Minister Yashodhara Raje Scindia said that the coaches of Madhya Pradesh Archery Academy will review the performance of players in the competition based on which the players will be selected in the academy. Expecting their best performance, she said that the Madhya Pradesh Archery Academy is the best.
Best of facilities for training in archery are made available to 80 per cent players of Madhya Pradesh and 20 per cent players of other areas. Congratulating the Vanvasi Kalyan Parishad for organising the contest she said that Madhya Pradesh is doing constant work to promote sports. In this the Parishad’s support is also expected. Presiding over the programme Kripa Prasad Singh said that the contribution of forest dwellers towards building a new India is prominent. Just as Madhya Pradesh is making efforts in this direction, similarly, Parishad is making efforts to promote sports among forest dwellers. Efforts are being made to realise Swami Vivekananda’s dream of a new India. Announcing the inauguration of the competition, he said that archery has an important place in Indian tradition hence archers should keep their skills sharp and be focussed.