Himachal Chief Secretary B.K. Agarwal on Wednesday met Secretary Sports Government of India R.S. Julania at New Delhi and requested for developing Shilaru High Altitude Centre as an international level Centre with world class facilities like running tracks, swimming pool, boxing rink, Hostels etc.
Agarwal told Julania that this Centre is most suitable for preparing Indian sportsmen for international events.
There is no other centre at such altitude in the country and if proper facilities are developed even sportsmen from other countries will also like to get trained here, he pointed out.
The chief secretary invited the Secretary Sports to visit Shilaru to finalize plan for developing an international level high altitude centre.
He also requested for speedy approval for sports infrastructure projects worth Rs. 74 crore pending with Government of India. Agrawal said that the state has submitted projects for creating infrastructure for indoor stadium at Solan, 400 metres synthetic track at Saraswati Nagar in Shimla district besides 5 DPRs under Khelo India Scheme and approvals were awaited from Government of India besides releasing Centre’s share worth Rs. 10.7 and 57 crores respectively for these projects.
CS DEMANDS SPEEDY RELEASE OF FUNDS UNDER RUSA
Agarwal also met Secretary Higher Education, Government of India R. Subramanyam at New Delhi and discussed various pending issues pertaining to RUSA and requested for speedy release of funds under various schemes.
He requested for speedy release of balanced amount of Rs.75 crore under RUSA 2.0 and informed that out of total Rs. 88 crore so far only 13 crore were released.
The CS also demanded release of Rs. 39 crore balance amount under RUSA 1.0 as utilization certificates have been already submitted. He said that Rs. 4 crore DPR of DAV Kotkhai under component of upgradation to new model college has been submitted to the
Ministry of HRD and requested for release of first installment soon.
Agrawal said every effort was being made for effective implementation of RUSA and some reforms were undertaken as per the guidelines. He added that majority of released funds have been utilized and as many as 66 higher education institutions were benefitted under RUSA 1.0.
The Secretary Government of India assured the Chief Secretary for suitable action regarding the pending issues.
