Pramod Madhwaraj, Minister of State for Fisheries, Youth Empowerment and Sports, said on Wednesday that a sports policy for the State would be ready by October 15.
Addressing presspersons after holding a review meeting of State-level sports officers here, Mr. Madhwaraj said that the draft sports policy was ready. His Ministry was collecting the views of all stakeholders — sportspersons, sports federations and associations and others — on the draft policy.
To collect their opinions, meetings would be held in Udupi, Bengaluru, Belagavi, Dharwad and Kalaburagi by September 30. “The policy should take into account the ground realities,” he said.
It was decided at the review meeting to make all district stadia to be made financially self-sustaining. Some district stadiums collected profit and earned revenue after deducting all expenses. Some of the district stadia that earned revenue are: Udupi Rs. 10 lakh, Mangaluru Rs. 40 lakh and Hassan Rs. 20 lakh.
On the other hand, the Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru earned Rs. 1 crore, but its expenses were Rs. 2 crore annually. The revenue earned by the district stadium in Ballari was Rs. 1.39 crore. In some district stadiums, the officers were not being able to charge user’s fee or any fee due to pressure from local legislators.
Since all district stadium management committees are chaired by the Deputy Commissioners, he would shortly hold a videoconference with them to discuss the issue of imposing user fee. “As the needs of different stadiums were different, a uniform user fee cannot be charged,” he said.
The government would be appointing four Assistant Directors of Sports. At present, there were 87 coaches in Sports Authority of India and 32 coaches in sports hostels across the State. But there was just one swimming coach. On an average, sportspersons could play only till they reached the age of 30 to 32. They required financial security while they were active on the field and after retirement. The government would approach big companies so that they adopted sportspersons through their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds.
All efforts would be made to popularise sports other than cricket. His Ministry was thinking of consulting nutrition specialists to provide nutritious diet to sportspersons being trained in various government sports institutions. Officials had been directed to keep the stadiums and the toilets there clean, Mr. Madhwaraj said.
Anupam Agarwal, Director, Youth Empowerment and Sports, Subashchandra, Joint Director (Administration), and Satish S., Director (Schemes), were present.
