Pulwama: The construction of an indoor stadium at Rajpora Block in UT's Pulwama district is set to be completed by the end of this month. With an aim to bring sports to grass-roots levels and to nurture the young talent from far-flung areas of Kashmir Valley, the Jammu and Kashmir administration has been developing indoor stadiums in the union territory.
"The indoor stadium was demanded by the local residents of the districts for a long time now. Jammu and Kashmir Projects Construction Corporation (JKPCC) has been tasked as the executing agency for the construction of the stadium," Additional Deputy Commissioner of Pulwama Shabir Ahmad Raina told ANI.
"The indoor stadium will be completed by the end of the month and will be handed over to the concerned representative," Raina said. "There are at least 190 panchayats in the district, we aim to develop grounds for the youths in every panchayat. Hopefully, we can achieve it by the end of this year," he added.
Lauding the central government for constructing stadiums, Ghulam Mohideen, a local resident told ANI that the coronavirus pandemic has impacted players' physical as well as mental fitness. It was important to resume sports activities. The development of the stadium will help in the overall development of the youth here."
Another resident, Ayoub Dar said, "The youth can use the stadium during winters. We are thankful to the government for this." "It is a very big initiative of the Government of India. I am thankful for them. Earlier, we used to go to an indoor stadium in Srinagar which is far away," Adnan Mir said.
The Government of India has provided Rs 4 crore each for the construction of indoor stadiums in all the 22 districts of the Union territory. These stadiums would offer multi-utility sports facilities for the local youth to groom their talent. One of the reasons for constructing these indoor stadiums is to engage youth in sports activities so that they cannot be misguided by anti-national elements.
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