CG can be developed as sports hub of country: Makan

Nods for SAI regional centre at Naya Raipur, state govt allocates 50 acres for project

Announces for laying of new astro in Jashpur, Rs 4.29 crore for SAI Rajnandgaon

Raipur, January 09, 2012

Union Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs Ajay Makan feels that Chhattisgarh can be developed as sports hub of the country. “It can happen on developing proper sports infrastructure in the state and imparting better training facilities to the players,” he said while interacting with the media persons at Congress Bhawan on Monday.

He informed that a new regional centre of Sports Authority of India (SAI) would be opened at Naya Raipur. “The state government has allocated 50 acres of land for the project,” he said.

He announced that soon an astro turf would be laid in Jashpur considering promising hockey players in the state. Besides, he also sanctioned Rs 4.29 crore for increasing infrastructural facilities in existing SAI centre at Rajnandgaon.

When pointed that the players of Chhattisgarh did not get government jobs in spite of their consistently impressive performance at national level, Makan said, “There is a provision of inducting such players in Centrally-owned public sector undertakings (PSUs) as well as in Railways. If the Chhattisgarh players are being ignored then I would ensure that they get government job,” he said.

Asked what were his ministry’s plans for Chhattisgarh youth, Makan said, “We will soon launch Youth Employability Skills (YES) programme in the state. Under this programme, we spend Rs 30000 on every young player by imparting him training for 3-6 months. We also involve private sector in YES programme. Presently, our YES programme is being implemented in North Eastern states as pilot project and it is expected to conclude on March 31, 2012. Thereafter, we will launch it in Chhattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir and other states.”

When indicated that majority of sports bodies were being dealt by politicians, Makan said, “There is no harm in having politicians in any sports body. However, such bodies should have at least 25 percent player among its executive members.”

“Also, to prevent misuse of top posts by politicians in sports organisations, we want to bring change in age and tenure of the executive members. Hence, we are planning to make maximum age limit as 70 years for post of president/chairman of any sports federation/association and tenure up to 12 years. The tenure of the other office-bearers is proposed to be eight years,” he added.

He also advocated for bringing sports bodies under RTI net. “This is must to maintain transparency in such bodies which represent the country during international events,” he said.

He informed that the Centre had distributed Rs 463 crore to different sports bodies in last three years. “The people have every right to know about the expenditure details of the fund provided to these bodies,” he said.