Editorial: Of governments non-seriousness
Engaging the youth in various activities apart from their usual curriculum should have been one of the core agenda of the administration. However, things seem to be working in reverse gear here in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
We have been stressing in our columns that the government should prioritize the affairs connected with the youth in the state, especially in Kashmir Valley. The reason being that youth can easily be molded to activities that can lead them to faltered growth.
One such example that can be cited indicating the non serious attitude of authorities in engaging the youth in sports and other activities is the non availability of sports infrastructure in the state.
Worse enough the government and the administration at the grass root level in not taking things seriously. The example of sports stadium in Tral can substantiate our claim. The stadium has not been completed despite the work on this project being carried out for the last three decades.
During all these years work by piece meals was carried out on the project, however, we can say with authority that the project has not neared any completion even today as almost no work on the project has been carried out. Though various dignitaries including some ministers also visited the place and even announced money from their CDF to get the civil work done on the project.
The stadium was initially conceived on around 600 kanals of land. The state’s Revenue Department identified 600 kanals in the first instance and later on added another 600 kanals making the campus of ambitious stadium spread over 1200 kanals of land. Such a spacious stadium could have been a model stadium if any Government functionary concerned with sports activities had shown even an iota of interest.
We all believe that sports have great impact on the life of the youth. They want to demonstrate their physical prowess and at the same time derive pleasure out of it. The unfortunate thing is that our planers have never paid sufficient attention to the requirement of the youth by not providing them playing grounds particularly in the proximity of towns and cities.
Thousands of young boys and girls in nearly 121 villages in Tral area have been yearning for a stadium for too long a time and the Government, despite no paucity of funds is not taking any interest in this project.
The government should immediately tread on a mission of harnessing the potential and expectation of our youth to prove their merit as emerging sportsmen at various levels.
But for making this dream into a reality the Department of Sports needs to sort out the hurdles that are coming in making these projects to turn things around in the volatile scenario that seems emerging in various parts of the Valley.
KV Correspondent
