Gurdaspur Diary: NGO promotes sports to keep children away from drugs

The difference between try and triumph is a little ‘umph.’ The Kavita Vinod Khanna Foundation (KVKF) relentlessly tried and has now triumphed in its endeavour to pull children away from the scourge of drugs. Led by Kavita Khanna, wife of four time ex-MP and film icon Vinod Khanna, the foundation has tried to do what no one else dared to do. It has started organising football and volleyball tournaments for young girls and boys in remote villages of the border district of Gurdaspur. Kavita’s Man Friday, Akash Sharma, a former Tennis player who has participated in the Wimbledon and Australian Open championships as a youngster in 2000, is leading the charge as far as holding the actual games is concerned. He is the spirit behind every tournament that is being held in this district. “One man can make another’s life so much better. That is why I chose Akash to do the job because he has all the attributes of a good organiser. He, in fact, is striving hard to make the initiative a success and also to make the lives of the children, qualitatively speaking, much better through sports. Our primary aim is to sponsor and nurture sports programmes as a preventive intervention to keep our Gurdaspur children away from drugs. This is not a one-stop venture. It is a continuous process. These tournaments will be held throughout the year, come rain, sunshine, or sleet,” she said. On the other hand, Kavita herself takes care of the administrative part of organising the events. Recently, she met DGP Gaurav Yadav who, in turn, assured her of all help. After all, Punjab Police is also fighting the same drug menace, although the scale is different. In the last tournament played recently in a Gurdaspur village called Suchetgarh, four village teams, comprising little girls, played two exhibition matches. The beauty of all this was that Suchetgarh came to a standstill to see its daughters playing. The message was loud and clear. Remain busy in sporting endeavours and your mind will never wander into the world of drugs. The tournaments for boys have been held earlier and will continue to be held in the future too. The KVKF is organising these tourneys with the help of a Mohali-based NGO called Roundglass foundation. The NGO describes its motto as “Taking a village as the microcosm of people’s lives, culture, economics and wellbeing, we create a thriving ecosystem for rural growth and wellbeing. “I always tell the boys and girls not to worry about whether you win or lose. Just do your best and have fun. If you win, celebrate. If you lose, just remain happy,” said Kavita. Sport may not be the answer in every situation. Pushing sport on an unwilling group of young people will not work. However, most people do enjoy some form of sport when it is presented respectfully and they see it as a choice. This is what KVKF is trying. Indeed, the KVKF is helping the youth of drug-infested Gurdaspur district get an opportunity to freely and fairly explore their talent in sports of their interest, be it football or volleyball, under the aegis of the KVKF and the Roundglass Foundation.

Two searches in 10 days unnerves residents

Residents of Pathankot and Gurdaspur districts were clearly unnerved following reports two groups of militants had made their way into the country from Bamiyal village, near the International Border (IB). The police were quick to conduct Cordon and Search Operations (CASO).

Sources disclosed that both the operations were conducted after locals informed the cops about “suspicious movements of two heavily built men, both carrying heavy backpacks, in the area.” Officers claim that the first threat, that was limited to Pathankot, was indeed real. A top cop revealed that based on intelligence reports, the two men were indeed terrorists. “By the time we managed to recoup, the militants had made their way deep into Jammu & Kashmir territory,” he said. However, the second threat that originated in Dinanagar, near the city’s railway station, turned out to be false. On both the occasions, residents had to spend sleepless nights before the cops gave the ‘all-clear’ signal. Locals are keeping their fingers crossed lest they get another threat.

(Contributed By Ravi Dhaliwal)