Make int’l cricket stadium atRajgir ready by Dec 31: Samrat

Patna: CM Samrat Choudhary on Saturday asked officials to complete the international cricket stadium under construction at Rajgir by Dec 31. The instruction came during a review meeting of the sports department held at the Lok Seva Awas.

Samrat said Bihar will develop separate international-level stadiums for different sports at the Dumri Sports Complex in Patna district, signalling a major push to strengthen multi-sport infrastructure in the state.

Reviewing progress on grassroots sports infrastructure, he said sports grounds have been completed in 4,700 of Bihar’s 8,053 gram panchayats, taking the total number of grounds to 5,266. He asked officials to complete the remaining grounds at the earliest and instructed that gram panchayat sports grounds be developed through the VB-G RAM G (Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Aajeevika Mission, Grameen) programme.

The CM also stressed the need to expedite the redevelopment of Patna’s Moin-ul-Haq Stadium. He asked the department to coordinate with the BCCI and BCA to speed up the project. He further instructed officials to improve road and transport connectivity to the stadium to prevent crowd-management issues during major sporting events.

Reiterating the govt’s broader sports agenda, Samrat said Bihar aims to provide Olympic-level facilities for international sports and that world-class infrastructure is being developed in phases. He said young and talented players are being honoured for achievements at the national level and encouraged through incentives, including the ‘Medal Lao Naukri Pao’ scheme.

Reviewing Bihar Sports University at Rajgir, Samrat asked officials to give priority to courses with strong potential for innovation, national utility and employment generation.

He also called for faster construction of district-level sports buildings-cum-gymnasiums and asked officials to assess the feasibility of operating and maintaining them through a public-private partnership (PPP) model.

Sports department secretary Vinod Singh Gunjiyal presented updates on infrastructure projects, implementation of schemes, facilities for players, recognition measures and the department’s future action plan.