Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti today asked for more youth interactions and festivals to inculcate a sense of unity among the youth of the State. She also directed augmentation of infrastructure to promote more sporting activity among the youth.

Chairing the 56th meeting of J&K State Sports Council here today, the Chief Minister asked for nurturing of sporting talent among the youth in a more professional manner for which she assured the Council of all her support. She stressed on holding more inter village, inter district and inter province tourneys whereby youth come to understand each other in a better way. She also suggested constitution of teams at the district levels to induce sporting competition among the youth.

Minister for Youth Services & Sports, Moulvi Imran Raza Ansari was also present in the meeting.

Mehbooba Mufti asked the Sports Council authorities to identify the sporting disciplines in which the youth of the State can lead their counterparts from other States and carve out a niche on the world sporting arena. She specified disciplines like Water Sports and Adventure Sports where the boys and girls from the State have an edge given the huge resources of water bodies and mountain ranges back home.

The Chief Minister, who is also the Chairperson of the Council, stressed on carrying out sporting activities beyond working hours and asked the concerned agencies to provide sporting attractions at stadia in evenings and on off days. She announced the release of Rs. 10 crore for lighting facilities at select stadia so that these can be used for sports during night hours.

Mehbooba Mufti was informed that the Sports Council has embarked on an ambitious plan of expanding sports activities in the State under which some 50 thousand youth spread across three thousand villages in the State would be covered. As a major initiative to hone the sporting talent among youth, the Council has set up Football, Cricket, Rugby and Wush Academies besides 200 coaches identified by it have been trained by National Institute of Sports, Patiala, she was informed.

Earlier, Secretary, J&K State Sports Council, Waheed ur Rehman Parra briefed the meeting about the various initiatives being taken by the Council for promoting sports in the State.

Chief Secretary, B. B. Vyas; Principal Secretary, Finance, Navin Choudhary; Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Rohit Kansal; Commissioner Secretary, Youth Services & Sports, Hilal Parray and other senior officers besides members of the Council were present in the meeting.

Guest