Enhancement of sports infrastructure facilities under PMDP
*Sports activities should not be relegated to background
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Mar 21: The Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children and Youth and Sports has expressed serious concern over gross under-utilization of funds earmarked under the Prime Minister’s Development Package (PMDP) for enhancement of sports infrastructure facilities in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Prime Minister had approved and announced the Special Package for Jammu and Kashmir on November 7, 2017 which inter-alia includes Rs 260 crore for sports infrastructure facilities of coaches, trainers, furniture, competition, incentives and prize money.
The Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committee comprising 10 Members of Rajya Sabha and 21 of Lok Sabha in its report recently tabled in the Parliament has observed that as against approved allocation of Rs 50 crore for the Prime Minister’s Development Package in the financial year 2021-22, there was no expenditure till December 31, 2021.
“During the current financial year, no amount was spent on enhancement of sports infrastructure facilities in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir under PMDP till December 31, 2021”, the Parliamentary Panel has mentioned in the report while expressing its serious concern over the reason cited for gross under utilization of funds.
The Committee has, therefore, strongly recommended that Sports Authority of India (SAI) must identify the possible reasons for such gross under utilization of allocated funds and be more careful in studying the gaps in generating requirements for the UT of Jammu and Kashmir and ensures that sports and related activities are not neglected or relegated to the background.
It has pointed out that during the financial year 2020-21, there was budget estimate of Rs 30 crore for enhancement of sports facility in J&K and revised estimate of Rs 50 crore. During this year, there was 100% utilization of funds. Similarly, 100% utilization was recorded during the year 2020-21. However, during the current financial year there was budget estimate of Rs 50 crore and revised estimate of Rs 15 crore but no expenditure was recorded till December 31, 2021.
It is pertinent to mention here that for enhancement of sports facilities in J&K under PMDP, 30 sports infrastructure projects as well as sports equipment have been sanctioned in the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh amounting to Rs 273.85 crore.
It is claimed that once the sports infrastructure projects are completed, those would be operated and utilized by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir for sports promotion activities. However, with under utilization of funds how the objectives can be achieved remains a million dollar question.
The slackness in the utilization of funds is notwithstanding the fact that Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and his Advisor looking after the affairs of Youth Services and Sports Department had a number of times laid stress on timely completion of sports infrastructure projects sanctioned under PMDP.
Even Chief Secretary Dr Arun Kumar Mehta in a meeting held on December 9, 2021 had directed the Department of Youth Services and Sports to complete all high-standard sporting facilities under PMDP and ensure their functioning in every district by March 2022.
It was informed in the meeting that so far 14 such multi-purpose indoor halls have been completed and the remaining 8 are under progress. Accordingly, the department was also asked to ensure functioning of at least one floodlit stadium in all districts to allow for evening tournaments and events.
However, the report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee has exposed the slackness at various levels in the Government of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir in utilization of funds earmarked under PMDP.
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