Sports Minister lays stone of stadium in Mussoorie

Tribune News Service

Mussoorie, October 24

In what can be termed as a Diwali gift for residents of Mussoorie, State Sports Minister Dinesh Agarwal laid the foundation stone of a multipurpose sports stadium during a function held on the premises of the Municipal Council at Bhilaru here today.

Speaking on the occasion, he said the long-standing demand of residents and sports lovers of the town would be fulfilled. He hoped that society, along with the government, would help in the upkeep of the facilities after their construction.

He announced grant of Rs 3 lakh for Ghananand Government Inter College, Rs 2 lakh for Government Girls Inter College, Rs 1 lakh each for Nirmala Inter College, RN Bhargav Inter College, Sanatan Dharm Inter College and St Lawrence School.

The minister thanked the Municipal Council of Mussoorie for granting 3.7 acres for the stadium. He said the estimated cost of the project was around Rs 27.27 crore and around Rs 5 crore would be given in the first stage. He said Rs 33 lakh had been granted to the executive agency for the construction of the boundary wall and levelling the field.

He informed the gathering that four-badminton courts, one football field, one athletic track around it, one shooting range was proposed to be built in the stadium.

Prashant Arya, Joint Director, Sports Department, said this was a big day for sports lovers as the stadium would play an important role in honing the skills of sportspersons from the region.

Members of the Mussoorie Sports Association presented a memento to the Sports Minster on the occasion. The stadium would come in handy during the 2018 National Games that would be hosted by Uttarakhand.

DFO Saket Badola was also present on the occasion.

BJP trying to topple state government, alleges Agarwal   

Mussoorie: Sports Minister in the Congress government Dinesh Agarwal, speaking to mediapersons on the sidelines of a function at Mussoorie, said the BJP, afraid of going to the polls, was trying to topple the elected Congress government in Uttarakhand.

   Dinesh Agarwal said the recent visit of the central BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya where he stayed for three days is indicative of the fact that the BJP is planning to topple the elected government using dubious and unconstitutional means.

   Dinesh Agarwal responding to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s remarks made  at a function in Dehradun on the Congress government gaining majority despite being in minority during the Assembly floor test posed a counter-question that who brought the elected government to a minority.

   It was the BJP that poached the Congress MLAs and was trying to unsettle the elected Congress government in the state. He said the BJP using money and muscle power was still trying to topple the state government but it would fail miserably. Agarwal said the Rawat government would be in power again due to the development works done by the government  in the past three to four years. He said the PDF was an integral part of the Congress government and their role  in the coming  elections would be decided by the Congress central leadership.  — TNS