Published in The Nation on June 16th, 2020,
LAHORE – Laying special focus on the promotion of sports and giving importance to Youth Affairs, the Punjab government has earmarked Rs 2,090 million in the budget 2020-21. Under its vision, the Punjab government has attached greater importance to youth affairs and sports development and creation of infrastructure in budget 2020-21. Out of allocated amount of Rs 2,090 million for sports and youth affairs in the annual budget 2020-21, funds amounting to Rs 1,733.000 million have been proposed for ongoing schemes and Rs 357 million for new schemes. Following are the major targets and new initiatives for the fiscal year 2020-21: Construction of 13 non-tehsil sports complexes in Punjab, establishment of soft sports facilities on Auqaf/Liquidation Board land in Punjab, provision of sports centres in DHO’s, building of state of the art sports arena ,one each at Sargodha, Multan, Sahiwal, Rawalpindi and Chiniot, establishment of new sports facilities in Punjab.
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In the annual budget 2020-21, Rs. 1,392.891 million have been allocated for regular schemes, Rs. 138.506m for play fields/cricket grounds, Rs 66.884m for establishment of sports complex, Rs 17.169m for establishment of stadiums, Rs 95.002m for gymnasiums, and Rs 22.548m for local development program. For new schemes Rs 357.000m have been set out for regular projects. The government also believes that sports and youth development have direct relevance to sustainable development envisaged in 2030 agenda. For the year 2019-20 an amount of Rs 4000 million was allocated. The total number of schemes were 200, out of which 174 were ongoing, 26 new schemes. Overall the progress of road sector was 90 percent utilization against released amount. Major achievements of fiscal years 20-21 were construction of hockey stadium at Rawalpindi, construction of swimming pool at Gujranwala, construction of Gojra hockey stadium, holding of athletics training camp for men and women at Punjab stadium, holding of World Kabaddi Cup 2020 at Lahore, Faisalabad and Gujrat.