Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
The State Government has resolved to bring out a comprehensive sports policy to encourage budding sportsmen from the State to participate in tournaments in the national and international arena.
Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy said the Government has accorded special focus for development of sports in the State and has accordingly made budgetary allocation of ₹321 crore this year. Studies of policies under implementation in different States were taken up and it was found that Haryana has the best policy relating to the encouragement and assistance to sportspersons. “A comprehensive policy will be tabled in the Legislature in the next session,” he said.
He recalled that infrastructure was created for hosting the Afro-Asian games in the city, but successive governments neglected the sports sector. The Government was focussed on prompting sports infrastructure and had accordingly held discussions with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for constructing a world class stadium in the proposed city at Mucherla. The BCCI would supervise the construction and development of the stadium into a world class one.
The Chief Minister lamented that stadiums were not serving their purpose and were being used for other purposes. While the stadium at Gachibowli was being used for marriages, the one at Saroornagar was being used for political meetings. “It is therefore proposed to develop a special action plan for improving the sports ecosystem and ensure proper training to sportsmen to excel in the national and international arena,” he said.
Sports event for legislators
Mr. Revanth Reddy recalled that sports events were held for legislators in the past, but the practice was not followed since the formation of separate State. He urged Speaker G. Prasad Kumar to constitute an all party committee to finalise the details relating to legislators’ sports meet so that it could be held at the earliest.
In addition, the Chief Minister stressed the need for encouraging legislators excelling in different arts and wanted an action plan to be prepared in this regard too.
