Chandigarh, November 28:- Haryana's Minister of State for Sports, Mr. Gaurav Gautam said that Haryana's Sports Policy has now become a model in the entire country. The state government is working with full commitment to provide world-class facilities, safe playgrounds and quality materials to the players. Expressing serious concern over the recent tragic deaths of two players in the state, he said that the Sports Department has taken strict and concrete steps to ensure that such a situation does not arise in the future.
The Sports Minister was chairing a review meeting with the officers of the department at Tau Devi Lal Stadium in Panchkula today. He said that an amount of Rs. 114 crore has already been specifically released for the repair, upgrade and redevelopment of sports stadiums and grounds across the state. Along with this, the grounds will be renovated on a large scale with a major part of the amount available in the District Sports Council (DSE) and also with district level resources. He assured that meaningful results of these efforts will be seen in just three months.
He directed the officials to immediately conduct a joint inspection of all the playgrounds, stadiums and materials coming under the Panchayat, Nagar Palika, Nagar Parishad and HUDA and send a detailed report to the head office. On the basis of this report, time-bound improvements will be made by the concerned departments. He gave clear instructions that the stadiums or buildings where the condition is found to be bad, should not be allowed for practice by the players. If any negligence is found, action will be taken against the concerned District Sports Officer.
The Minister of State for Sports said that for the scientific evaluation of the state's sports infrastructure, the sports department will classify the grounds and stadiums into A, B, C and D grades.
Grade A sports grounds will be good and safe, ready for immediate practice. Grade B grounds will be ordinary, but playable. Similarly, Grade C grounds will be usable after renovation. Grade D will be completely prohibited, use will not be allowed.
He said that with the improvement in sports facilities, the responsibility and accountability of the officials are also being fixed. Fake sports nurseries will be completely banned.
Mr. Gaurav Gautam said that he himself will regularly monitor this entire process and will also review the progress from time to time. He expressed confidence that with these concrete steps, not only the infrastructure of sports will be strengthened, but also the players will get a better, safer environment for practice. The meeting was attended by Director of Sports Department Mr. Sanjeev Verma, Additional Director of Sports Mr. Ashwani Malik, UMV Director of the zone and District Officer.