The Uttarakhand Government is committed to make Uttarakhand a sports State and for this the Government is setting up a robust sports infrastructure, said Chief Minister Harish Rawat while inaugurating first ever hockey synthetic turf at Maharana Pratap Sports stadium, Raipur on Wednesday. The department of sports has set up the international standard poly graph turf at the cost of `6.20 crores at the sports college in Raipur.
Terming the event as an entry of State into modern sports facilities, Rawat said that the Government is constructing and renovating series of stadiums in different parts of the State. In addition to them two international stadiums are also coming up at Dehradun and Haldwani. Stressing the need to integrate existing and upcoming sports infrastructure in the State CM asked the department of sports to prepare a comprehensive calendar of sporting activities right from village level to the State level. He said that his desire is that the State should enter into the sporting arena with a splash when the national games are organised here in the year 2018. The CM also directed the sports officials to hire coaches in required numbers and conduct walk in interviews for them. He said that a plan to take the services of former players for being honorary coaches should also be made. Terming the modern sports as a scientific art, Rawat said that sporting arena is witnessing rapid changes which require careful fine-tuning at every level. The CM exhorted the youth and budding sportspersons to keep a positive attitude and shed defeatist mindset to succeed in sports. Speaking on the occasion, the Minister of sports and forests, Dinesh Agarwal said the State Government is developing a proper sports infrastructure despite limited resources at its disposal. He said that the State Government is fully dedicated to hold the national games of 2018 on a massive scale.
The sports secretary, Shailesh Bagoli said that the hockey turf conforms all the international standards and there are very few turfs like this in the country. He said that the new turf would promote hockey in the State. The parliamentary secretary and Raipur MlA, Umesh Sharma ‘Kau’ thanked the Chief Minister and Sports Minister for setting up international level sports infrastructure in Raipur sports college.
On the occasion the Chief Minister Harish Rawat felicitated former players Hardayal Singh and Padma Bahadur Mall. A friendly hockey match between Uttarakhand police XI and Uttarakhand XI was also held on the new turf in which the boys of Uttarakhand police defeated their opponents.