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U.P. making playgrounds in 58 K villages, giving sports kits to players: Yogi
During the virtual launch of the ‘Saansad Khel Mahakumbh’ by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Basti’s Shaheed Satyawan Singh Stadium on Wednesday, UP CM Yogi Adityanath said the state government had stepped up efforts to construct a stadium in each district of the state and mini-stadiums at the block level.
LUCKNOW: The state government was preparing playgrounds in 58,000 village panchayats of Uttar Pradesh, said chief minister Yogi Adityanath during the virtual launch of the ‘Saansad Khel Mahakumbh’ by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Basti’s Shaheed Satyawan Singh Stadium on Wednesday.
“Of these 58,000 panchayats, land has been acquired in 34,000 gram panchayats. The government has also helped construct 30 rural sports grounds in Basti. We are also making sports kits available to the players through ‘Yuvak Mangal Dal’ and ‘Mahila Mangal Dal’ in every revenue village. In rural areas, children and youths are being made aware of various sports competitions,” Yogi Adityanath said.
He said the state government had stepped up efforts to construct a stadium in each district of the state and mini-stadiums at the block level.
“The Khelo India campaign was launched in the country eight years ago with PM’s inspiration and has since spread to each village through the ‘Saansad Khel Mahakumbh’. This provided rural youths with a platform for sports in 2021 and an opportunity to progress,” Adityanath said while congratulating Basti MP Harish Dwivedi for planning the launch of the second phase of the rural sports campaign.
“In UP, the government provides ₹6 crore to an athlete who wins an Olympic gold, ₹3 crore to silver medallist and ₹1 crore to bronze winner,” he said and added that the state government also provided ₹10 lakhs to athletes competing in the Olympics.
“For winning a gold, silver and bronze medal in the Asian Games, ₹3 crore, ₹2 crore and ₹1 crore are given by the government respectively. In Commonwealth and world championships, gold medallists are awarded ₹1.5 crore while silver and bronze medallists get ₹75 lakh ₹50 lakh respectively,” he said.
“The spirit of the PM’s Khelo India campaign is now visible in its true form. Despite Covid-19, this year we not only had the highest number of players competing in the Olympics and Paralympics, but also the most medal winners. Every section of society is given the chance to showcase talent through sports,” he added.
“The country and the world have seen a new India in the past 8 years. India, under the leadership of PM Modi, has acquired the capability to lead the world and getting the presidency of G-20 is a part of that,” Adityanath said.
The chief minister played a bit of hockey at the Basti stadium and interacted with a girls’ team. He expressed pleasure that even girls were choosing sports as career.
He also inaugurated an exhibition on development in Basti and closely watched depiction of various welfare schemes of the union and state government. The information department had organised this exhibition underlining the impressive change in road connectivity along with expanding network of solar energy and implementation of Jan Arogya scheme of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Yogi appreciated the efforts of officials and instructed them to cover more needy people under government health schemes.
(With input from Gorakhpur)
