Inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Fit India movement and to realise the slogan, "UP will play, UP will win", the Uttar Pradesh government has set an ambitious goal of one district, one stadium for the state.
The beginning has been made as UP is set to have four new government stadiums in Sambhal, Chandauli, Hapur and Shamli districts.
On Wednesday, the state cabinet approved building of a cricket stadium in Bhartara village of Chandausi tehsil in Sambhal district. The district administration will provide land free of cost to the Youth Welfare department for the stadium.
Similarly, the Animal Husbandry department has agreed to give land for the stadium in Chandauli. Land has been identified in other districts as well and the transfer process will be completed soon. Subsequently, experts will give presentations before the government regarding design and construction of the proposed stadiums.
According to Additional Chief Secretary (Sports) Navneet Sehgal, every effort will be made to start the construction of the stadiums this year itself. Besides, completion of projects of the department, which have been under construction for a long time, will also be expedited.
Continuous ACS-level monitoring is being done of all the projects, including an under-construction international level stadium in Ayodhya, sports hostel in Saharanpur and velodrome (cycling track) in sports hostel at Lucknow.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has undertaken a number of initiatives in the recent past which reflect his seriousness about sports. The chief minister wants UP to be represented well in national and international sports competitions and is leaving no stone unturned to provide all the necessary facilities to ensure this.
“Efforts are being made to groom sports talents of the state right from their childhood. The government is working on providing sports grounds, stadiums and coaches as well as other necessary equipment and facilities at village, block and district levels to identify and nurture young sports talents in remote corners of the state,” Sehgal said.
He said the government had also announced attractive rewards for medal winning sportspersons at state, national and international level championships. The government proposes to build sports grounds in every village, mini stadium at block headquarters, one district, one sport Khelo India Centre and world class sports city in Gorakhpur division.
Along with developing sports infrastructure, there is equal emphasis on training to nurture sporting talent at the local level. For this, the process of appointing trainers has also started. Now a complete blueprint has been prepared to remove the shortage of trainers in the state.