New Delhi: 332 Panchayat Yuva Krida aur Khel Abhiyan (PYKKA) centres will be set up in different clusters of gram panchayats during current financial year in support with the Government of India to give boost to youth and sports activities in the state revealed by Prof. Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister, Himachal Pradesh.
He said that there were a number of Central sponsored sports schemes aimed at rural infrastructure creation and giving boost to the rural youth and sports activities. He said that the state government had been raising various such issues with the Union Ministry of Youth Services and Sports from time to time. He sought exemption in the population and other criteria fixed by the Union Government, since Himachal Pradesh being hilly and sparsely populated state did not fit into the norms fixed for other states.
He requested the Union Ministry for Youth Services and Sports for revival of the Grants for Creation of Sports Infrastructure Scheme which had been discontinued since the year 2005-06 so that quality infrastructure was created in the rural areas for the benefit of the rural youth. He said that the state had also been endeavoring to create quality sports infrastructure in the rural areas out of its own funds so that quality vast network was created to cater to different sports activities of the rural youth.
He further informed that National Service Scheme (NSS) had an enrolment of over 72,000 students in three universities, 83 degree colleges and 543 senior secondary schools of the state wherein the youth were actively delivering valuable social service benefits to the people by way of launching campaigns from time to time. He said that one of world’s best cricket stadium had come up and was nearing completion in Dharamshala to host international cricket matches and more cricket stadiums were also being developed in all the district headquarters in a phased manner. He said that the state had been hosting the International Para-Gliding competitions at Billing in district Kanga for the past few years where the number of participants was increasing with every passing year. He said that the state had many virgin skii slopes to facilitate organization of Winter Olympics which too were being developed to match the international standards.
