Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur on Saturday met Tamil Nadu Sports Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin in Chennai and said that coordination is going well in the field of sports with the Tamil Nadu government and he hopes to achieve the desired outcomes in Tamil Nadu.
While addressing the media, Thakur said, “Dayanidhi Maran and Udhayanidhi Stalin made a presentation. It was good to see the passion of the TN sports minister to create infrastructure, and have more events and schemes. We hope to achieve desired outcomes in Tamil Nadu and become a great sporting nation”.
Thakur also said that the Union Government is planning to open 1,000 Khelo India centres by August 15.
“We are planning to open 1,000 Khelo India centres in India by Aug 15 this year. Our goal is to at least open one Khelo India centre in each district. I am glad that the Tamil Nadu government has started working on that and we have started allocating funds in this regard,” he said.
“We also discussed how to promote sports in the country but sports is a state subject. So more and more states should come. Our PM Modi is a sports lover so the importance of national sports associations is equally important,” he added.
Thakur further stated that an all-state sports ministers meeting will be held by the end of April.
“You know last time we held a states sports minister meeting in Kevadia this time by end of the April another all-state sports ministers meeting will be organized by the end of April where each sports minister from every state will get a chance to share knowledge and give presentations to all of us on the various models being undertaken by them,” he said.
Thakur also mentioned the importance of national schemes being taken by the central government.
“In Khelo India games we are seeing national records being broken. Those participating in the Khelo India games are now participating in the Commonwealth Games and Olympics. Schemes like TOPS and out-of-pocket allowances are provided to sportspersons which helps them a lot,” he said.
