Bilaspur

Shimla: The Himachal Pradesh government has decided to explore possibilities to set up astro turf hockey field at Bilaspur.

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, in a meeting of State Sports Council today assured to develop adequate sports infrastructure to facilitate the sportsperson in the State.

He said that the work on Katasani cricket stadium would soon be started as the land had been handed over to the sports department. He directed the officers concerned to expedite the work on the stadium. The Katasani stadium near Ghanahatti in Shimla would be developed for football, hockey and cricket games.

It was approved in the meeting to prepare proposal to engage grounds-men and other class IV staff for upkeep of the stadiums at Una, Hamirpur, Rohru and Bilaspur. The Chief Minister approved adequate funds for upkeep of synthetic athletic tracks for sports stadiums at Una, Hamirpur and Dharamsala.

The Chief Minister directed to do the re-mapping of Una sports stadium and also directed for proper maintenance of the stadium.

He directed to provide adequate budget to the sportsperson who gets injured or falls ill through Sports Welfare Fund. He also directed to enhance the funds for the State level Junior Tournaments under the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhiyan and also to provide more funds for district tournaments taking into consideration the number of participants.