Banteidor Lyngdoh, Sports and Youth Affairs Minister of Meghalaya, announced on Tuesday that the central government has decided to grant Rs 170 crore to the Meghalaya government to develop sports infrastructures for the National Games 2022.
Meghalaya will become the third north-eastern state to host national games. Earlier, Manipur and Assam hosted the national games in 1999 and 2007 respectively. The national event will also mark the Golden Jubilee celebration of the creation of Meghalaya.
It is to be noted that in October 2018, Thaawarchand Gehlot, who is the central minister for social justice and empowerment, had announced a support of Rs 200 crore to Meghalaya.
However, the ministry has now reduced that amount to Rs 170 crores. Lyngdoh explained that the office has justified the deduction claiming that it was based on the stipulations and necessity of fund.
Hindustan Steelworks Construction Limited (HSCL) has been roped in by the ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs as the Project Management Consultant (PMC) for the development of sports infrastructure in Meghalaya ahead of the national games. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has also been signed between the two parties.
Nita Ambani, the founder-chairperson of Reliance Foundation, has also shown eagerness to develop sports infrastructure ahead of the National Games in the North-eastern state in collaboration with the Meghalaya Government.
Talking further about the developments made so far, Lyngdoh said that the detailed approximates and blueprints related to building of the games village are being chalked out by the PMC. He added that by December, the PMC will likely be able to float tenders.
Meghalaya might be hosting the national games for the first time, but it has the experience of hosting games in the past as the state co-hosted the 2016 South Asian Games with Assam as the co-host.
The previous National Games were held in 2019 in Amravati, Andhra Pradesh.
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