Uttarakhand has many destinations which can be used for water and winter sports and the State Government intends to develop Sonali (Roorkee), Pancheshwar dam, Chandrapuri reservoir, Dayara and Munsyari for promoting these sports. The Chief Minister, Harish Rawat, made this observation while addressing a ceremony organised to felicitate the coaches and players of Kayaking and canoeing here on Tuesday.
Rawat said that the State Government is committed to promotion of sports in the State. He assured that the Sonali canal in Roorkee would be developed for water sports facilities to make it at par with international standards. Rawat said that the Chandarpuri reservoir on Mandakini river in Rudraprayag can also be developed for water sports. He listed the proposed site of Pancheshwar dam in Pithoragarh district as another place which can be developed for such sports.
CM said that Munsyari (Pithoragarh) and Dayara (Uttarkashi) should be developed for winter sports activities. He asked the sports officials to prepare a special project so that women of State excel in water and winter sports.
On the occasion, l J Singh (SAI coach), Mahesh Kumar, Upendra Pal Singh, Dilip Beniwal and John Varghese, Viond P and Ashish Srivastava were honoured for their contribution as coaches of water sports. The Chief Minister also felicitated former international players D S Negi, B S Pundeer, N S Kataith, Manish Jakhwal and Nitesh Kumar.
A cash reward for national game winners was also given by the Chief Minister on the occasion. The recipients of cash awards were Gaurav Tomar, Sunny Kumar, Kishore Gurang, Mohit Kumar, Atul Kumar, O P Kumar, Deepak Bhandari J Prasad, Anil Bhandari, Dhanvir Bhandari and Dinesh Pandey. The pioneer of Kayaking Arun Sajwan was also honoured on the occasion by the Chief Minister. The ceremony was organised under the joint aegis of Uttaranchal Kayaking, Canoeing and Rafting Association (UKCRA) and department of sports.
The programme was attended by president of UKCRA Kedar Singh Fonia, MlAs Ganesh Godiyal and Sunder lal Mandarwal, ace shooter Jaspal Rana and secretary, sports, Shailesh Bagoli.