The Lieutenant Governor of union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Manoj Sinha along with Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge), and Union Minister of Youth and Sports Kiren Rijiju, jointly laid the e-foundation stone of Shri Arun Jaitley Memorial Sports Complex, in Hiranagar.
The Rs 58.23 crore mega-sports complex, built under the Prime Minister’s Development Package (PMDP), is going to be spread over 33.75 acre of land and is expected to go a long way in accentuating the overall sports infrastructure in the Union Territory.
This will be one of the best and state of art sports complex having multiple sports facilities of international/national standards in one place.
Falling in close vicinity of National Highway 44, the project shall not only cater to the Hiranagar area but the whole of J&K.
Remembering Arun Jaitley, the Lt Governor said that he was an “outstanding parliamentarian, a legal stalwart, an eminent intellectual, an able administrator, and an immaculate statesman who believed in the high ideals of transparency and accountability in governance”.
“Arun Jaitley’s contribution to nation-building and his role in Indian polity has been exceptional,” he added.
The e-foundation stone was laid in presence of Advisor to the Lieutenant Governor, Farooq Khan; Union Secretary of Sports, Ravi Mittal; Chief Secretary, BVR Subrahmanyam; Secretary, Youth Services and Sports, J&K, Sarmad Hafeez, and Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Sanjeev Verma, who along with senior officers and scores of political leaders, PRI members were present at the venue and joined the online event.
Family members of Arun Jaitley, including his wife Sangeeta Jaitley, and his daughter also participated in the event through the online mode. The Lt Governor remarked that the government of India is very keen to provide the basic necessary infrastructure for promoting sports in J&K and the region has been privileged to get Rs 200 crore under PMDP for developing sports infrastructure.
“Out of 22 sanctioned sports complexes, eight have already been dedicated to the public and efforts are being made for speedy completion of the remaining”, the Lt Governor said.
The Arun Jaitley Memorial Sports Complex will have a state-of-the-art synthetic athletic track, synthetic hockey field, synthetic turf football ground, multipurpose hall, swimming pool, cricket ground, skating rink, boxing rink, tuck shops, and other basic amenities.