With an aim to promote sports activities in the district War Heroes Stadium in Sangrur will be renovated with the fund from the central government, Sangrur Member of Parliament Vijay Inder Singla said on Tuesday.
Responding to Singla's initiative, the union sports minister has approved the proposal to upgrade the stadium with central funds under the Urban Sports Infrastructure Scheme (USIS).
Singla said `7 crore will be spent for laying synthetic athletic track at the stadium. Out of this total expenditure Centre will finance `5.5 crore and the rest `1.5 crore will be spent from his MPLAD fund.
National Building Construction Company (NBCC) will place the synthetic track.
Targeting Akali leaders he said senior Akali leaders had ignored Sangrur by depriving the sports enthusiasts. "Sangrur will no longer be devoid of development and soon a state of the art sports facility will also be available here said Singla.
He added that he has also requested the Union sports minister to upgrade the existing infrastructure at SAI Centre in Sangrur by including more sports such as taekwondo, badminton and lawn tennis in addition to the existing disciplines like athletics, boxing and volleyball.
All SAI centres should allow people from all age groups to use the sports facilities under the 'come and play scheme' and not restrict these to 8-17 age group only, Singla stated.
{{/usCountry}}All SAI centres should allow people from all age groups to use the sports facilities under the 'come and play scheme' and not restrict these to 8-17 age group only, Singla stated.
{{/usCountry}}The Sangrur MP added that UPA has provided substantial funds under PYKKA to Punjab to upgrade rural sports facilities at village level. "The Punjab government has not been seeking PYKKA funds from the Centre for the past two years. This hinders the interests of rural youth in pursuing sports,"said Singla.