PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/Dehradun
Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Thursday directed officials to expedite the process of accommodating medal-winning athletes from national competitions into government service on an out-of-turn basis. While chairing a review meeting of the Sports and Youth Welfare department at the Secretariat, he emphasised the importance of firming up an action plan to ensure its swift implementation.
He stated that a new sports policy should be implemented in the State in alignment with the National Sports Policy 2025 introduced by the Central Government. He directed officials to start the academic session at Uttarakhand State Sports University in Gaulapar, Haldwani, next month. Further, he stressed the need to expedite the admission process and the appointments of coaches, employees and officers at Gaulapar Stadium. He also directed the construction work on mini stadiums be accelerated under the ‘One Block, One Mini Stadium’ scheme.
He further directed officials to expedite work on the legacy plan to ensure that the facilities developed at Maharana Pratap Sports College, Dehradun, Gaulapar Stadium in Haldwani, Rudrapur Velodrome, Tehri Lake and stadiums in Haridwar and Pithoragarh are utilised effectively for athletes. He emphasised the importance of maintaining the infrastructure built during the 38th National Games and called for an action plan dedicated to that purpose.
CM proposed special training camps be initiated across various disciplines to prepare athletes for the upcoming 39th National Games in 2027. He said that the selection and identification process for athletes must be accelerated in collaboration with various sports associations. He reaffirmed the State government’s commitment to establishing Devbhoomi as a hub of sports excellence by achieving even better results in the upcoming National Games.
Under the initiative ‘One District, One Sport’, he advocated for the development of coaching, talent identification and competitions in designated sports within each district. Each district sports hostel should be developed as an ODOS (One District One Sport) nursery for that specific sport, CM noted.
The officials informed that a total of 29 medal-winning athletes have already been placed in government jobs. Additionally, 48 mini stadiums have been constructed under the ‘One Block, One Mini Stadium’ scheme, with work continuing for 10 more. Land transfers for additional mini stadiums are also in progress.
The meeting also highlighted the rapid progress of India’s first women’s residential sports college in Lohaghat, where 16 posts have been created to facilitate its operation and the admission process is currently underway. Moreover, a total of 39 infrastructure components, including a university auditorium, central library, health centre, cafeteria, research centre, shooting range, seminar hall, badminton hall, football field, hockey field and an eight-lane athletic track are being developed at Gaulapar, making it Uttarakhand’s first and India’s 10th State sports university.
