By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 21 Dec: “The Khel Mahakumbh is a platform to enhance the talent of sportspersons. With this Khel Mahakumbh, we will prepare a nursery of sports for the future, which will work to bring laurels to the country as well as the state. It is our endeavour to provide better opportunities to our players and prepare them for the 38th National Games,” stated State Sports and Youth Welfare Minister Rekha Arya, today, at a meeting with officers of the Education and Sports Departments.
The Sports Minister emphasised on making the state-level Khel Mahakumbh an excellent event. The event is to be organised at the Maharana Pratap Sports College, Dehradun. She said that this Mahakumbh, which started at Nyay Panchayat level, has been held at the block level, at district level and now at the state level. She said it is a matter of great pleasure that about four lakh players have participated, thus far, in this Khel Mahakumbh, which shows the extent to which sportspersons of the state have a passion for sports.
She reminded that the state’s youth have brought laurels to the country as well as for their state with their skills. Once upon a time it was said that only education is necessary to move forward, but now this perception is changing. Today every parent is motivating their children towards studies as well as sports.
The Sports Minister said that teams from 13 districts will participate in this event to be held at the state level, in which 14 sports will be played.
Minister Rekha Arya appealed for better cooperation from the Education Department. She pointed out that traditional sports of the state have also been included in the Khel Mahakumbh. She added that to encourage the players, the ‘Chief Minister Khiladi Udiyaman Unnayan Yojana’ has been started under which children are being given a scholarship of Rs1500 every month. The incentive amount for players who win medals at the national and international level has also been increased. Horizontal reservation of four percent for sportspersons will also be introduced, so that they will get government jobs.
Also present on this occasion were Director General, Education, Bansidhar Tiwari, Additional Secretary and Director, Sports and Youth Welfare, Jitendra Sonkar, Joint Director, Sports, Dharmendra Bhatt, Joint Director Ajay Agarwal, Deputy Director Shakti Singh, including officers of the Sports and Education Departments were also present.
