Advisors to Governor K Vijay Kumar, Kewal Kumar Sharma and K Skandan Thursday jointly inaugurated newly installed facility of flood lights at Sher-e-Kashmir Stadium Bandipora.
The flood lights installed at a cost of Rs 75 lakhs havebrought cheers among the sports lovers of the district as the night matchesincluding football and cricket will soon be played in the stadium.
The advisors congratulated the people of Bandipora forgetting the flood lights facility for the stadium. It was also said the peopleof Bandipora have always been sports lovers with soccer being the most favoritesport and the matches have always drawn huge crowds and hoped that the day-nightmatches will be the new attraction for the sports lovers and shall draw hugecrowds to witness the matches and entertain themselves.
The advisors also laid the foundation stone for theconstruction of synthetic athletic track under Khelo India.
Advisor K Vijay Kumar said that the youngsters of Bandiporahave showcased an exceptional performance in different activities and receivedrecognition at national and international level. He said the government iscommitted to provide better sports infrastructure at village level so that theyouth are able to polish their sports skills and are able to perform better incompetitions.
The main attraction of the day was when all three advisorsbroke the official protocol and went in the stadium to play volleyball with theyoungsters who were already playing a volleyball match. The match drew a largenumber of spectators who welcomed the advisors in the stadium by hugeapplauses.
The advisors also interacted with the players and members ofdifferent clubs who apprised the advisors about several issues. The advisorsgave patient hearing to them and assured them to look into the issues onpriority.
At Check Arslan Khan, the advisors also inaugurated instantplayfield at Langurgund Panchayat at Gundpora constructed by Rural DevelopmentDepartment under convergence scheme at the cost of Rs 17.50 lakhs. Theplayfield was developed by way of earth cutting, leveling, filling and aprotection works on Arin Nallah under MGNREGA thus fulfilling the long pendingdemand of the locals. The advisors also distributed cricket kits among severalcricket clubs of the district.
Advisors said the Department of Rural Development has takenup the task of developing 206 playfields in 151 Panchayats of the district atthe cost of Rs 8.23 crore and 178 play fields have been completed so far. Hesaid under convergence plan the playfields are being developed at low cost sothat a space is provided in every village for the youth to practice and takepart in sports activities. He said steps are being taken up with the objectiveto provide basic sports infrastructure to explore the hidden talent of youth insports field.
Secretary Youth Services and Sports, Sarmad Hafeez, DeputyCommissioner Bandipora Shahbaz Ahmad Mirza, Superintendent of Police Rahul Malik,Additional Deputy Commissioner Bandipora Zahoor Ahmad Mir, AssistantCommissioner Revenue Reyaz Ahmad Beigh, Assistant Commissioner DevelopmentJehangir Ahmad, Joint Director Planning Imtiyaz Ahmad besides other officerswere also present on the occasion.