Minister for Youth Welfare and Sports Development Udhayanidhi Stalin presenting sports kit to youth in Erode on Friday.
| Photo Credit: M. GOVARTHAN
Minister for Youth Welfare and Sports Udhayanidhi Stalin on Friday said people were the special ambassadors of the DMK government’s achievements as the welfare schemes reached all the families in the State.
Addressing a gathering during the distribution of 633 ‘Kalaignar Sport Kit’ to youths from 382 village panchayats from Erode and Karur districts, he said the scheme of providing sports kits was launched in February this year in Madurai to ensure more sportspersons come from villages.
Mr. Udhayanidhi Stalin said the scheme intended to provide 33 types of sports materials to youths in 12,525 village panchayats in the State at ₹86 crore so that non-availability of kit should not be a hindrance for practice. The Minister said through the Tamil Nadu Champions Foundation, high cash incentives were given to winners at the national and international level and sportspersons in need of funds could apply online at the portal www.sdat.tn.gov.in. He said through the 3% reservation for sportspersons, 100 persons would be provided jobs in government institutions soon.
The Minister also handed over patta to Erode (East) MLA E.V.K.S. Elangovan whose land has been without patta for over 50 years. The Minister also distributed welfare assistance to 4,503 beneficiaries to the tune of ₹21.72 crore.
Minister for Housing and Urban Development S. Muthusamy, Minister for Information and Publicity M.P. Swaminathan, Rajya Sabha MP Anthiyur P. Selvaraj, Erode MP K.E. Prakash, MLA A.G. Venkatachalam, Mayor S. Nagarathinam, Additional Chief Secretary to Government, Youth Welfare and Sports Development Atulya Misra, Member Secretary of Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu J. Meghanatha Reddy, Collectors Raja Gopal Sunkara (Erode) and M. Thangavel (Karur), Erode Corporation Commissioner Narnaware Manish Shankarrao and other officials were present.
Earlier, the Minister inaugurated the synthetic athletic track at the V.O.C. Park Stadium. In the evening, he held a review meeting with officials at the Collectorate.