Jammu– Commissioner/Secretary Department of Youth Services and Sports Sarmad Hafeez chaired a meeting of officers in his office chamber here on Wednesday to deliberate on the budget announcements and review the activities and achievements of the department.
The Omar Abdullah-led government recently announced the 2025-26 budget for sports, its highest allocation ever.
The meeting discussed budget announcements and strategic implementation of the same with letter and spirit.
The budget announcements included engaging 75 lakh youth in sports activities across J&K; establishment of National Centres of Excellence for Water Sports at Dal Lake in Srinagar and Basohli in Jammu; setting up of Gymnastics Academy at Gindun Rajbagh and Khel Gaon Nagrota; establishment of four state-of-the-art Cricket Academies with budgetary funding of Rs 8 crore; construction of two new Youth Hostels, one each in Jammu and Kashmir divisions for which amount of Rs 10 crore has been kept in the budget.
High performance training centres are being developed in all districts in phased manner to enhance athletes training and performance; hosting of national/international sports events to boost tourism and infrastructure, including the 9th Aerobic Asian Championship in 2025 and the Rafting World Cup in Kashmir for which a separate provision of Rs 4.5 Crore has been kept.
A football exchange programme will also be conducted; focus on empowering coaches by organising specialised capacity building programmes like the football development programme and world coach programme; development of 247 playfields, stadiums and sports courts for enhanced facilities; construction and upgradations of 19 sports buildings across the region; procurements of sports equipments and generators for stadiums.
Provision of Rs 150 crores for sports infrastructure; commissioning of two swimming pools in both the capital cities, creation of sports facilities for migrants; focus on involvement of rural//tribal population in games and establishment of 100 khelo India Centres.
It was also discussed in the meeting that a Water Sports Festival will jointly be organised by J&K Sports Council in April in collaboration with the Department of Youth Services and Sports.
The enhancement in honorarium and refreshment charges of the players were also discussed in the meeting.
Prominent among others who attended the meeting were Rajinder Singh Tara, Director General Youth Services and Sports; Jyoti Rani Slathia, Special Secretary YSS; Ashok Kumar Khajuria, Director Finance YSS; Nuzhat Gul, Secretary J&K Sports Council; Ashiq Bhat, Joint Director Planning; Ravi Kumar, Deputy Director Planning YSS; Jitender Mishra, Deputy Director Central and Nitin Hangloo, representative of NYK.
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