Seating arrangement for 50,000 spectators
Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, Sept 12: Union Minister, Dr Jitendra Singh along with Union Minister of State Incharge Youth Affairs and Sports, Kiren Rijiju and Lieutenant Governor of J&K, Manoj Sinha laid e-foundation of Rs 80 crore international standard Arun Jaitley Youth and Sports Complex at Hiranagar in Kathua district today from New Delhi and Srinagar respectively.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Jitendra Singh said this will go a long way in accentuating the overall Sports Infrastructure in the Union Territory of J&K. This will be one of the best and State of Art Sports Complex having multiple Sports facilities of International and national standards in one place. The Sports Complex will not only cater to Hiranagar area but the whole of J&K and would be an important place for hosting national and International events, he added.
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Dr Jitendra Singh expressed the hope that engineers engaged in the construction of the project will work with same zeal and enthusiasm as was shown by the Government in finalizing this project and laying its foundation stone. He warned that no compromise will be made on the quality of the work and the Government will monitor the working from time to time.
He also warned that if any compromise will be made in the construction of the project by the constructing agencies the Government will deal with it seriously and reminded that the Central Anti Corruption Act has now been enforced in the J&K after the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35 -A last year.
The Union Minister said today that late Arun Jaitley had, all his life, groomed youth talent and thus the multiplex would represent his legacy of grooming, promoting, nurturing and mentoring the youth talent.
Dr Jitendra Singh said that the complex in the name of Arun Jaitley will be befitting of his stature and his vast vision. He said, it is the first of its kind in North India and one of the biggest sports premises in the whole of India.
Dr Jitendra Singh, said “Arun Jaitley has done so much for us that this complex is a very small and humble token of thanks-giving to him. There is a lot of divine devotion with which this project has got approved, and hoped that the construction work will also be carried out with similar devotion and sincerity”.
Describing Arun Jaitley as his friend, philosopher, guide and mentor, Dr Jitendra Singh said that a promise has been fulfilled today of having a multipurpose sports complex at Hiranagar, which was actually a demand placed before Jaitley when he had last visited there. Once completed, the stadium will be able to organize national and international sports events, he added.
Dr. Jitendra Singh expressed gratitude towards Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and Sports Ministry for giving go-ahead to this project despite a ban on the sanction of new projects due to the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Pertinent to mention here that some of the unique features of this project include a Cricket ground, synthetic Athletic track, synthetic Hockey ground, synthetic turf Football ground, a Multipurpose Hall, standard size Swimming Pool, Skating Ring, Boxing Ring, illumination facility, etc., with a seating capacity of over 50,000 people.
Dr Jitendra Singh further said that this State-of-the-art multipurpose sports complex will be completed in a time bound manner, consultants with expertise will be engaged for its construction. Giving an insight into the various developments that took place during the last one year after the abrogation of Article 370, Dr Jitendra Singh said that UTs J&K and Ladakh have seen a new dawn of development in every sector be that education, health etc with the long pending demands of the people being fulfilled every day.
Dr Jitendra Singh said Arun Jaitley was so much concerned for development and welfare of people of J&K that once during their visit to Amritsar while passing through Kathua he said that this place will become a great educational hub and had he been alive today he would have been pleased to see that AIIMS and IIIM have been opened in Jammu. He said the Director of AIIIMS will be appointed soon.
He also highlighted various projects on which work is going on in Jammu like Biotech Park at Kathua, High Altitude Medicinal Research Institute at Bhaderwah in Doda district while the work on Seed Processing Plant in Kathua will also be started soon.
Speaking during the inauguration, Minister of State (Independent Charge) Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, MoS in the Ministry of Minority Affairs, Kiren Rijiju congratulated the people of Jammu especially the people of Hiranagar for its inauguration and said that this dream project was relentlessly pursued by Dr. Jitendra Singh who wanted J&K to be part of an allround development in every sphere that is taking place in rest of the country.
Rijiju further said that the sports activities are being promoted at each and every level in the UT of J&K to nurture the best talents from the UT. Mentioning about the success of ‘Khelo India Winter Games’ in Gulmarg this year, the Minister informed that a world class ‘Winter Sports Academy’ will be built in Gulmarg and other long pending sports projects in the UT will be taken care of and completed in due course.
Lt. Governor of J&K, Manoj Sinha in his address said that with the construction Arun Jaitley Memorial Sports Complex at Jammu, the sports activities in the region will be promoted and this will be a stepping stone for the youth to compete at national and international events.
Remembering Arun Jaitley, the Lt Governor said that he was an outstanding Parliamentarian, a legal stalwart, an eminent intellectual, an able administrator, and an immaculate statesman who believed in the high ideals of transparency and accountability in governance. Jaitley’s contribution to nation-building and his role in Indian polity has been exceptional, he added.
The Lt Governor remarked that the Government of India is very keen to provide the basic necessary infrastructure for promoting sports culture in J&K and the region has been privileged to get Rs. 200 crore under PMDP for developing sports infrastructure. Out of 22 sanctioned sports complexes, eight have already been dedicated to the public and efforts are being made for speedy completion of the remaining, announced the Lt Governor.
In this respect, he also lauded the efforts being made by the Union Government for the promotion of sports activities nationwide.
‘Treading the part of accountability and transparency as shown by Arun Jaitley, the UT administration has recently launched online Grievance Redressal System-JKIGRAMS, through which any citizen of J&K would be able to file his grievance with the UT administration for prompt and speedy disposal’, Sinha said. This perhaps would be a befitting tribute to the leader of impeccable integrity, he maintained.
The Lt Governor observed that there is no dearth of talent in J&K and that the same will be identified and nurtured by proper training and infrastructure. “With enough training, the J&K youth would easily prove their mettle at any forum”, he added.
On the occasion, the Lt Governor also remembered his life long association with the great leader and acknowledged his unwavering support to him all along.
Union Secretary of Sports, Ravi Mittal; Chief Secretary, J&K, BVR Subrahmanyam; Secretary, Youth Services and Sports, J&K, Sarmad Hafeez, and Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, . Sanjeev Verma, who along with senior officers and scores of political leaders, PRI members were present at the venue, joined the online event.
Family members of Arun Jaitley, including his wife Sangeeta Jaitley, and his daughter also participated in the event through the online mode.
Prominent cricketer form the region, Mithun Manhas participated in the event through video conferencing.
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