Chhattisgarh gears up for large-scale competition to promote sports among youth at Bastar
Chhattisgarh is soon to be a sporting superpower in India, with it's government undertaking multiple initiatives to promte sports in the state. Notably, on July 27, when India's Union Minister of Labor and Employment, and Youth Affairs and Sports Shri Mansukh Mandaviya made a visit to Raipur, a framework was put up to organize a large-scale sports competition in the state.
As a result of which, on August 2, the State Sports Director Tanuja Salam held a meeting with all the District Sports Officers of Bastar Division at New Circuit House Jagdalpur. In the meeting, the members carefully analyzed the preparations of the aforementioned competition.
At Bastar, Tanuja Salam first went to the Hockey Khelo India center in Jagdalpur. A synthetic turf is set to be implemented in Jagdalpur and Salam was seen carefully inspecting the site and greeting the players. She also went to the Priyadarshini Stadium's training centers to meet the players and physical education teachers, taking note of the activities in the district.
Assistant Director, Rajendra Dekate had informed Tanuja Salam of the infrastructure in Jagdalpur and the identified land for the proposed infrastructure. Moreover, centers at Pandaripani were also visited by the team. Salam has now given instructions to the District Sports Officers to prepare a framework for organizing youth activities which are expected to promote sport among the young generation in Bastar and bring them in to the mainstream.
Notably, the Niyada Nellanar Yojana will play a huge role here. The aim of this scheme is to provide special sports facilities to Nella Nar-Tekalguda Camp and five surrounding villages under five districts of Bastar Division -- Kanker, Narayanpur, Bijapur, Dantewada and Sukma.
The Sports & Welfare Department had sanctioned Rs. 10 lakh to these districts in the financial year 2023-24 and Rs. 44 lakh in the current one. The officers had also been informed to ensure availability and smooth allocation of sports materials in the identified camps.
The Sports & Youth Welfare Department, Chattisgarh shared photos on Facebook from this event:
Bastar to utilize homegrown natural talents
Tanuja Salam has asked to accelerate the work of the schemes across the districts of Bastar division. She believes natural talent is plenty in the region and efforts should be made to hone their skills by providing proper sports training to them. She has also said that just as the government gives permission for recruitment of the vacancies in the Sports & Welfare Department, the recruitment process will start to fill up the posts.