Lt Governor chairs high level meeting to review Sports activities in J&K

Use the power of sports to prevent crime and drug use among youth: LG

Make sporting activities more inclusive; Accelerate efforts to promote women athletes: LG to officials

• 13.75 lakh youth to be engaged in Phase-II of My Youth My Pride

Srinagar August 17: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha today chaired a high level meeting at Civil Secretariat, to review the sports activities across Jammu & Kashmir.

The Lt Governor took a detailed assessment of the efforts for engagement of 35 lakh youth in sports activities targeted for this year.

J&K Sports Council and Department of Youth Services & Sports were directed to use the power of sports to prevent crime and drug use among youth.

The Lt Governor further called for ensuring maximum participation of girls. Make sporting activities more inclusive; accelerate efforts to promote women athletes. We must promote equal participation of girls and it should be ensured they have ample opportunities to develop teamwork, self-reliance, resilience and confidence. Sport has the power to change the society and we must use its unmatched potential, the Lt Governor said.

The Lt Governor also directed the officials to develop facilities for yoga centers and explore the modalities to organize rallies in the districts to promote sports culture among the younger generation at grassroot level.

Analytic view must be taken to identify the employees engaged under sports quota who can contribute towards the development of sports in J&K, added the Lt Governor.

While taking stock of the calendar of activities under ‘My Youth My Pride’, the Lt Governor was informed that Phase-I of the programme has witnessed the participation of 8.76 lakh youth from across the UT, while 13.75 lakh youth will be engaged in Phase-II.

The chair was informed about the special activities under ‘My Youth My Pride’ to be organized to commemorate important International days with the targeted engagement of 25,000 youth.

The meeting also discussed the progress made in formulation of merit list for the appointment of outstanding sportspersons, the rewards as per the Sports Policy being extended to the sports persons who have brought laurels to the country and the UT.

The Lt Governor asked Sh Rohit Kansal, Principal Secretary to Government, Higher Education Department to encourage the youth at Higher Education level to participate in different sports disciplines.

On being informed about the ongoing projects under PMDP, JKIDFC, Capex and Khelo India, the Lt Governor asked the officials to identify the projects facing land or other issues so that appropriate action can be taken to resolve the same.

The Lt Governor instructed the Department of Youth Services & Sports to organize sports tournaments in multiple disciplines under LG’s Rolling Trophy including Cricket, Football, Volleyball and Hockey, and reward the outstanding players at UT level and District level.

Dr Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary; Sh Sarmad Hafeez, holding the charge of Secretary, Youth Services & Sports; Sh Subash Chander Chhibber, Director Youth Services & Sports; Ms Nuzhat Gul, Secretary, J&K Sports Council and other senior officials attended the meeting.