The State Sports Minister Dinesh Aggarwal has blamed the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) for not keeping its promise of providing financial assistance for construction of Rajiv Gandhi international sports stadium at Raipur in Dehradun. The minister made this allegation while addressing the media here on Monday. He said that the ONGC had promised to provide a financial help of `50 crore for the construction of the stadium but till date not even a single paisa was given by it.
The stadium and sports complex would be the main venue for the proposed 38th National Games which would be held in Uttarakhand in the year 2018. Aggarwal said that he has repeatedly asked the top officials of ONGC about their promised financial assistance but nothing has happened till date. “I do not know the reason behind this delay, but if they (ONGC) want to backtrack from their declaration they should make it clear. The construction work on the stadium is almost complete and the State Government would go ahead with the project with or without the help of ONGC,” he said.
The Minister claimed that the state government is working for smooth and successful conduction of the national games and for it is creating a sports infrastructure in different parts of the State. He informed that the sports department would setup a shooting range at Mussoorie which apart from hosting shooting events during the games would also be used to promote tourism. Aggarwal said that government is in process of finalizing the consultants for the games and claimed that the process would be completed in a month’s period.
The sports minister inaugurated the sports department’s website on Basic Adventure Course, Munsyrai in Pithoragarh district. He said that to promote adventure and mountaineering the government has decided to set up ‘Pandit Nain Singh Surveyor Mountaineering training institute’. Aggarwal said that the institute would organize a 15 day basic adventure course for 30 participants from October 14. He said that the department has deputed famous mountaineer Reena Kaushal Dharamsattu as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) at the institute. This course would be inaugurated by the state Chief Minister Harish Rawat. The sports department would set up a tent colony for the participants of the event. The department would also organize basic adventure course in the month of November and a skiing course at the site in December.
The Minister felicitated the medal winners and participants of the recently held 8th commonwealth karate championship at New Delhi. Nitin Singh, Kanupriya Bhatia both from Dehradun and Harshit Joshi of Pithoragarh got bronze medals in this event.