By Radhika Nagrath
Haridwar, 17 Apr: Known till now as the pilgrimage city, Haridwar is all set to become a sports city as well. The Haridwar-Roorkee Development Authority has taken a new initiative for enhancing sports in the district which has brought a wave of cheer amongst sports and fitness lovers. Till now, Haridwar-Roorkee Development Authority was considered to be an institution for approving the building maps, issuing notices for demolishing illegal constructions. But the young Vice President of Haridwar-Roorkee Development Authority, IAS officer Anshul Singh, has given a new identity to this authority by ensuring the participation of the Authority in the domain of sports.
The authority has prepared a new sports complex for the players which is equipped with modern facilities at an estimated cost of Rs 20 crores. With the new construction here, the pilgrimage city of temples and ghats has now got a new identity in the field of sports. The players have praised the facilities at this new sports complex. Badminton players will be able to use the best facilities here to improve their hits, returns and smashes. Apart from this, the authority will also provide free world-class sports training to economically deprived players so that these talents can show their sports brilliance on national and international platforms.
This new sports complex has world-class sports facilities, which will show a new road to success for young players. Anshul Singh says that his goal is to provide a platform to the talent of the players of Haridwar by providing them state-of-the-art facilities in their own city. The authority has worked on many schemes to promote sports and fitness and has realised this in the form of new sports complexes. The authority has also made the Pannalal Bhalla Inter College Stadium of Haridwar equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and given it a new shape. This stadium is equipped with modern sports facilities. The people of Haridwar had been demanding a centrally located modern stadium for many years, which has been fulfilled by the authority. The City Sports Indoor Centre built in front of this stadium has been developed as a sports village equipped with modern facilities.
The official said that while expanding the indoor stadium, new facilities like badminton court, gymnasium, yoga classes, lawn tennis courts have been provided. He said that, in the new sports complex, players will be able to get state-of-the-art facilities for various sports under one roof. Five badminton courts, two lawn tennis courts, two Squash courts, and a gym have been built in this new sports complex. Along with this, players have also been given two cricket pitches for practice and facilities to play football. Players will also get cafeteria facilities. International level trainers (coaches) have also been hired to train young players.
Vice Chairman Anshul Singh said that the Authority will provide high quality training to financially deprived talented players through expert sports trainers at its own expense, and other players will also be given high quality training. In this way, talented players will now be able to get free training in the new sports complex to polish their talent. In the first phase, there is a plan to provide free sports training to six economically weak players which will be gradually taken forward.
Haridwar-Roorkee Authority Nitin is doing new experiments in the field of sports. Before the construction of the new sports complex, a sports zone under the national highway flyover was also built.
This novel initiative helped make use of the large and wasted land area under the flyover for sports activities. In these sports zones built under the flyovers at Shankaracharya Chowk and Bhupatwala in Haridwar, players are seen playing football, basketball as well as skating. Pictures of various national and international players of various sports of the country have also been put up on the pillars of the flyover of these sports zones so that young players can know about these players and take inspiration from them. In this way, Haridwar Roorkee Development Authority has changed its established form and created a new identity.
Haridwar’s well-known cricketer Prakash Joshi said that Haridwar-Roorkee Development Authority has made a special contribution to the sports world of Haridwar by increasing the sports facilities and equipping them with state-of-the-art facilities, which is welcome. There is enthusiasm among the players and the young players will definitely benefit from it.
The Board of Veteran Cricket in India, BVCI, is organising a three-day All India Inter Zonal Veterans cricket championship from 18 April onwards. This will be held in the newly constructed HRDA stadium. Rajeev Tyagi, Vice President, BVCI North Zone said, “This cricket championship is being held for the first time in Haridwar. Many eminent players like state Dronacharya awardee Narayan Singh Rana and others will be participating including eleven players from Uttarakhand.”
The event will be telecast live on Doordarshan as well.
