Dr Chabbewal urges panchayats to boost sports culture in villages

To strengthen sports culture at the grassroots level, Member of Parliament Dr Raj Kumar Chabbewal on Saturday appealed to panchayats to enhance sports activities to tap unbounded talent amongst youngsters. The MP’s appeal comes in the wake of Punjab Government’s decision to create playgrounds and indoor stadiums in villages across the state.

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Inaugurating the first volleyball and tug-of-war tournament initiated by the gram panchayat in Bainstani, Member of Parliament Dr Raj Kumar Chabbewal stated that panchayats were contributing a lot in the development of rural areas and these elected bodies could also play a pivotal role in the creation of a healthy sports environment in villages. “It is time to engage youngsters in games of their choice so that they can excel at the national as well as international level,” said Dr Chabbewal.

Referring to Punjab Government’s “Khed-da Punjab, Badalda Punjab” endeavour, Dr Chabbewal said that villages would get playgrounds and as many as 3,000 indoor gyms across Punjab besides modernisation of 13 existing Centres of Excellence for Sports, which would further boost sports activities. He said the vision of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is to take sports to grassroots level for which a budgetary provision of Rs 979 crore has been set aside for the current fiscal year.

Lauding the initiative of the village panchayat, Dr Chabbewal pointed out that Punjab Government had created as many as 87 playgrounds for volleyball in view of its popularity amongst youngsters in Tarn Taran just within two weeks on a pilot basis. He assured that the Hoshiarpur villages would also get playgrounds. They will have running tracks, separate playing area for children, solar lighting and other facilities. The MP also announced a sports ground, gymnasium and 25 solar lights for the village.