Past glory will be restored to sports: SAAP chairman

Nellore : Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh (SAAP) chairman Animini Ravi Naidu has said that the government is keen on allocating funds in a big way to bring back the past glory to sports in the State.

Speaking to reporters here Saturday the SAAP chairman said as part of this initiative, the government has issued a GO for the construction of 4,039 playgrounds across the State. To mould the students as international players, it is planned to encourage them at primary level by providing infrastructure facilities in schools, he added.

Ravi Naidu informed as part of this SAAP recently organised a meeting with 53 associations over promotion of sports at primary level. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is keen on conducting national games in the State in 2027, he added.

“Following the directions of the CM, I am inspecting sports development centres (SDC) that lacks development, indoor and outdoor stadiums, multi-purpose sports stadiums in the State,” he stated.

The SAAP chairman alleged that the previous YSRCP government had totally neglected sports sector, instead it misused Rs 199 crore in the name of ‘Adudaam Andhra Pradesh’ programme during it five-year tenure. He recalled that as per the request of former Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu, the State government had allocated 170 acres for the construction of MPSS in Mogallapalem village of Nellore rural mandal in 2017.

He said the TDP government has completed 90 per cent of the construction and 10 per cent was left for various reasons. He criticised that the YSRCP government that came to power in 2019 wantonly neglected completing the construction.

Earlier, the SAAP chairman has inspected the MPSS at Mogallapalem and ordered the officials to make it available within 15 days. Later, he visited Anam Chenchu Subba Reddy Stadium (AC Stadium) and held a review meeting with district sport authority officials over providing infrastructure facilities and other developments.

TDP national secretary Beeda Ravi Chandra, Nellore rural constituency in-charge Kotamreddy Giridhar Reddy and others were present.