The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has sanctioned a central assistance of Rs 4.85 crore for development and maintenance of playfields and payment of honorarium to Kridashrees in 389 village panchayats and 10 block panchayats in Himachal Pradesh this month under the Panchayat Yuva Krida Aur Khel Abhiyan (PYKKA) Scheme.
With this, a total grant of Rs 21.33 crore has so far been sanctioned to the state for development and maintenance of playfields. Himachal Pradesh is one of the few states which have received the entire grants-in-aid under PYKKA Scheme for all the five years.
In Himachal Pradesh, the scheme is being implemented through the Himachal Pradesh Sports Council (HPSC). A sum of Rs 16.48 crore was provided to the HPSC up to March 31 for the year 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12 for the development and maintenance of playfields in 1296 village panchayats and 32 block panchayats.
Under the PYKKA playfields are developed and maintained in villages and block panchayats across the country in a phased manner and competitions are conducted annually at block, district, state and national level and its main aim is to provide the basic sports infrastructure in 2.50 lakh village panchayats and 6400 block panchayats in a phased manner over a period of 10 years.
The scheme also provides for 100 per cent central assistance to State/UTs for holding annual rural sports competitions as block, district, state and national levels as also financial support for conducting National Women Championships and North East Games. About 51,759 village panchayats and 1,538 block panchayats have been covered under the PYKKA Scheme, during the last four years (2008-09 to 2011-12) for development and maintenance of playfields.
