Centre to meet state sports ministers this month

Government will convene a meeting of state sports ministers later this month to discuss various issues relating to sports infrastructure, Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said today.
The meeting, to be held on March 20 and 21, is aimed to gather views of sports ministers from various states, Sonowal who is the Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports, told the Lok Sabha during Question Hour.
He was responding to questions from members on the steps being taken to improve sports infrastructure facilities in the country.
Speaker Sumitra Mahajan asked the Minister to convene a meeting with states to understand their concerns about sports infrastructure. In response, Sonowal said a meeting of sports ministers has been called later this month.

While acknowledging that "sports infrastructure of international standards is available to a limited extent in the country", the Minister said steps are being taken to address the inadequacies.
Emphasising that much more needs to be done, Sonowal said it is primarily the state governments' responsibility to create state-of-the-art sports infrastructure, facilities and recreation centres, including in rural areas.

To supplement efforts of states, the Centre has various schemes such as Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhiyan, he said.
Responding to a query on maintenance of sports infrastructure created by Kerala for the recently concluded national games, Sonowal said the state government was responsible for this and they should also have a policy for the utilisation of such infrastructure.

With regard to sports facilities at proposed smart cities, he said his Ministry has "suo motu taken up the issue" of making such provisions.