Last Updated on March 1, 2021 at 1:48 pm
Kiren Rijiju announced that the government will create a state-of-the-art winter sports academy in the region. He said that the process to get the world standard institute opened is ongoing. The Union Minister was inaugurating ‘Khelo India’ winter games at Gulmarg in Kashmir Valley.
He said that the government had announced 100 small Khelo India Centres across all districts of the valley. Out of these one hundred centres, the administration has already approved 40 and the remaining 60 will be approved in the next financial year. Ex athletes and coaches are eligible to run these centres. While doing so, they can manage a decent livelihood while also contributing to sports.
He said that they have also opened two Khelo India State Center of Excellence in the region for training Judo, Fencing and Rowing. Srinagar will be made an attraction hub for water sports. Moreover, they have decided to grant a Khelo India academy accreditation to the Mata Vaishnodevi sports complex.
J&K government had declared to promote Ranjit Sagar Dam as a venue for water sports activities back in 2012. But the discriminatory policies of successive governments of the erstwhile states have led to callousness on the part of the administration when it came to promoting Jammu. The National Institute of Water Sports Goa had also conducted a survey in this regard but there were allegations that officials had created hurdles in developing this region as a hub of water sports.
This region is also known as ‘Mini-Goa’ because of its 23-kilometre lake stretch. Still, this region is ignored even though there were repeated proposals to develop it as a hub of leisure water sports. Proposals of Sports like pedal boating, rowing, kayaking, canoeing and motor-boating were largely ignored.
