23rd November, 2002
Prime Minister's Office  


PM ACCEPTS FIVE FOLD INCREASE IN PLAN ALLOCATION FOR SPORTS


The Prime Minister, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee has called upon the newly formed All India Council of Sports to work out an effective National Action Plan for achieving excellence in sports within the next 100 days. The Prime Minister accepted the Council’s proposal for a five-fold increase in the allocation for sports in the 10th Five Year Plan and assured to place it before the next meeting of the National Development Council (NDC) for formal approval, while addressing the inaugural meeting of the Council held at his residence, here today.

Shri Vajpayee emphasised that continuity and continuous efforts in the field of sports are a must. He underlined the fact that money is not the main constraint in the promotion of sports and said that all the concerned agencies should work properly in a planned manner. There is also a need for greater and better co-operation between the Centre and the States in this regard, he added. Shri Vajpayee congratulated the medal winners and the various sports federations for their successful performance at the recent Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games. The Prime Minister said that the need of the hour is to plan for the future, especially for the coming Olympic Games.

Shri Vijay Kumar Malhotra, president of All India Council of Sports, Shri Vikram Verma, Union Minister of Sports, Shri K.C. Pant, Dy. Chairman, Planning Commission, MoS in Prime Minister’s Office, Shri Vijay Goel, Shri Suresh Kalmadi and Shri V.C. Shukla also spoke at the meeting. Prominent sportspersons such as Shri P.K. Bannerjee, Smt. P.T. Usha, Shri P. Gopichand, Shri Jaspal Rana, Shri Vishwanathan Anand and Ms. Karnam Malleshwari were among the other members of the Council who attended the meeting.