Haryana Assembly passes Sports Council Bill

The Haryana Assembly today passed the Haryana Sports Council Bill, 2016 to constitute statutory sports councils at state, district, block and municipal levels.
It was moved by state Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Anil Vij and the House was adjourned by the Speaker for 20 minutes after Leader of Opposition and INLD leader Abhay Singh Chautala sought time to go through the bill.
After the House re-assembled, Vij, who had drawn flak from various quarters for allegedly wasting a huge sum of money by leading a delegation to the Rio Olympics recently, said he had prepared a 80-page report on his visit which would be submitted to Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar soon.

He said the report would contain all the things he learnt during the visit which would help improve sports in Haryana further.
On a query from Chautala, Vij told the House that the Sports Council will neither select sportspersons nor send teams for competitions.
He said a sports injury centre would be set up shortly in the state.

Regarding the bill, the Sports Minister said councils would be constituted under the Haryana Sports and Physical Fitness Policy, 2015 for promotion of sports, games, yoga, physical fitness, the 'Sports for All concept and to augment athletic efficiency, adding that they would also be responsible for coaching, competitions and other sports-related activities.

The State Sports Council would be headed by the Chief Minister and would have the Sports and Youth Affairs Minister as its Vice President, he said.
The other members would include the Finance Minister, the Education Minister, the Development and Panchayat Minister, the Health Minister, the Chief Secretary, the Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, Administrative Secretaries of Home, Finance, Higher Education, School Education, Development and Panchayats, Town and Country Planning, Urban Local Bodies, Sports and Youth Affairs and Health and the Director General of Police.