Mahilpur- Member of Parliament Dr. Raj Kumar Chabbewal today inaugurated the first volleyball and tug-of-war tournament started by Gram Panchayat, Benstani and urged the panchayats of the district to organize maximum sports activities in villages so that the goal of healthy Punjab can be achieved by connecting the youth with sports.
Describing panchayats as the hub for the all-round development of villages, Lok Sabha member Dr. Raj Kumar Chabbewal, while addressing the players during the tournament, said that creating a sports atmosphere on a large scale is the main demand of the time, for which the panchayats should make sincere efforts with the cooperation of the villagers and encourage the youth towards sports culture. He said that under the initiative of the Punjab government ‘Kheda Punjab, Badla Punjab’, efforts are being made on a war footing for sports and playgrounds and indoor gyms will be provided to the villages.
He said that the government has made a provision of Rs 979 crore for sports during the current financial year, which is the highest amount released in the history of Punjab for the sports sector so far. He said that currently 13 Centers of Excellence are also being upgraded and equipped with modern facilities in the state, which will develop into sports hubs for Punjab players competing at the national and international levels.
Praising the village panchayat, Sarpanch Santosh Singh, NRI Baljit Singh, Panch Bhupinder Singh Pappu, Harbhajan Singh, Davinder Singh, Tirath Singh and the villagers and youth for organizing the volleyball tournament, Member of Parliament Dr. Raj Kumar Chabbewal said that in the last few weeks, the Punjab government, seeing the popularity of volleyball in Tarn Taran district, built 87 playgrounds on a pilot basis in villages within 15 days, which gave strength to the game of volleyball.
He said that the playgrounds to be built in the villages will be of complete standard, including a running track, a separate play area for children and solar lighting etc. Dr. Chabbewal invited the youth that Punjabis have always left a unique mark on the world sports map, maintaining which, the youth should join their favorite sports and earn fame in state, national and international level competitions. He said that drugs can be easily defeated by promoting sports, for which everyone needs to make joint efforts. He also announced the construction of a modern stadium and gym in the village on the demand of the village panchayat, in addition to installing 25 solar lights, for which the village panchayat thanked the Member of Parliament.