CM Review Meeting on Sports and Skill Development

Universities will compete for the CM’s Cup

“Every municipal area should be connected to a play-field”, says AP CM

6 sports academies and 4 water sports academies to be inaugurated on August 15

6 lakh people will be trained, 3 lakh people will be placed: target for 2017-18

On Friday, the Chief Minister reviewed the progress of Sports Authority of AP (SAAP) and AP State Skill Development Corporation at the Secretariat. Officials from both the departments presented the reports, that had followed up with suggestions and instructions given by the Chief Minister in the last review meeting.

All moves were towards his vision of engaging at least 60% of the state’s population in sports by the year 2029.

SAAP

The total number of playfields across all 13 districts is 3,036, with a total outlay of ₹151.8 crore. By the end of August, all of them will be customized according to the locally preferred school sports and activities.

Sports DevelopmentCentres across the state, called KreedaVikasKendras, are indoor and outdoor facilities for sports and recreation. 30 of them will be completed in 2016-17 and 62 of them will completed by 2017-18.

SAAP also presented the progress on Academies under Professional Management, for which SAAP issued a national tender. A number of interested organisations from Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka are currently bidding, and the successful bidders must provide the academy with trained coaches, nutrition training, accommodation and boarding, equipment and international exposure, among much more.

The authority has also invited many sports management companies and investors from around India, and many private investors have evinced interest in developing sports in AP.

The 6 indoor and outdoor academies (Visakhapatnam, Kakinada, Gudivada, Narasaraopeta, Nellore and Anantapur) and 4 water sports schools (Vijayawada, Nagavankala, Jangareddygudem and Thadipudi) are going to be inaugurated on August 15. They will have 80 expert sportspersons training students, and the 6 academies will be maintained at the cost of ₹20 crore per year.

Officials also reported that SAAP is continuously seeking guidance from the Centre for designing and maintenanceof the above academies. Out of ₹29.5 crore sanctioned by GoI for infrastructure projects for Sports, the state has spent ₹8.7 crore in multiple facilities across the state.

Every municipal area will also be involved in local tournaments, organized by SAAP. In collaboration with Director of Municipal Administration, SAAP has identified 535 Municipal schemes and various other stadiums, playfields for the advancement of sports through private participation.

The Chief Minister insisted, “Every village must be connected to a play-field.”

Across AP, continuously held events, tournaments and activities will lead up to higherplatforms, where players and interested teams will compete and train in the state level. Every activity will be recorded in a state-wide database connected to the CM’s dashboard.

“All the details of participants and activities in the state must be recorded in the portal, so that we can measure the outcome”, said the Chief Minister.

The officials proposed that intra and inter university competitions of all 13 universities will compete for an award, which will be called as the CM’s cup. This will encourage physical activity along with academics.

The Chief Minister also instructed the officials to start maintaining a sports events calendar, and include all games and athletic activities. “Trekking, water sports and other adventure sports must be our new focus areas”, said the Chief Minister.

Vizag, Amaravathi and Tirupati will be developed as Sports Cities, with the best quality of sports facilities.

AP State Skill Development Corporation (from 2015)

The officials revealed the targets for the year 2017-18, as 6 lakh people to train, and 3 lakh people to place in the industry. The budget allocated is ₹395 crore. Through extensive research, they reported that Andhra Pradesh ranks high, compared to other states in India, in the field of unemployment and skill development.

3.51 lakh people have been trained and 2.5 lakh are ready to be placed this year.

The Skill Development Corporation also requested the Chief Minister to approve the set up of their district level offices, to improve the quality of interaction with the people.

1,631 training centres with a seating capacity of 3.2 lakh people will be opened across all 13 districts.

A number of MoUs with international and national companies have ensured that many sponsorships and CSR initiatives is currently providing the people of AP with adequate training.

For example, Siemens has a seating capacity to train 1 lakh people. Similar national international engagements include HP Education, North Eastern University (Boston), CII, HPCL and GAIL.

The Chief Minister instructed the officials to conduct a more thorough research, and find out the correlation between skill development, employability and job satisfaction.