SHILLONG, APR 29: Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Wailadmiki Shylla on Wednesday said the state government will address accommodation shortages for the National Games next year by offering a 72-75% subsidy for setting up boutique hotels in Tura and Jowai, adding that Meghalaya will be a “successful host” and will “perform well” in the Games.
Shylla was chairing the first meeting of the governing body of the National Games Secretariat Society.
All the members of the different departments were present.
He said the society decided to expand its membership for better coordination.
“The society feel we should increase the members in this committee as there was no member representative from tourism, from health, from transport and from Information & Public Relations,” Shylla said.
“Therefore, we have taken a decision that more members will be included so that it will be easy for us to coordinate because as you all know Meghalaya Games is not only for sports as the whole state machinery will be involved. That is why we thought the need to increase the number of member departments.”
On preparedness, the minister said venue construction is on track but accommodation remains a challenge in Garo Hills and Jaintia Hills.
“We have mapped the accomodation in our state which we feel that Shillong we have the numbers but right at the moment, we have shortage in Tura and Jowai, which we also have a plan for that and which we already given the scheme from tourism for (setting up of) boutique hotels, where almost 72-75% subsidy will be given from the government,” he said.
He added that the move avoids building infrastructure that would be hard to maintain post-Games.
“We do not want to create any more infrastructure as you know if we continue to build infrastructre, it will be very challenging for us to maintain it after the National Games,” Shylla said.
“That is why we take this opportunity to also promote tourism at the same time and we give opportunity to locals, who wants to set up these boutique hotels but we have given them a set of guidelines where we can put our athletes or technical persons in the coming days.”
Shylla said the state is not waiting for central funds to push ahead with works.
“We are not taking anything for granted, so we are fully prepared and that is why you have seen that we have not waited for the sanctioning from the Central government, we are going all out with the state fund for any kind of construction and for any kind of needs for the National Games,” he said.
He added that reviews by the Union Sports Ministry had been positive.
“Few months ago, the secretary of union sports ministry came here and took a review meeting and he had visited the sites and he was also quite happy and a month back, our commissioner & secretary along with officers have met union minister and shared the presentation with him. Overall, I could say that the preparation is going on well.”
The minister expressed confidence in hosting the Games successfully.
“I am quite sure and I am quite confident that with the kind of support we are getting from the chief minister and other departments, we will be able to run this National Games smoothly and make it a rememrable one,” he said.
On athlete performance, Shylla said the government wants to go beyond hosting. “Definitely as what we really desire is not just to host this games. We also want our athletes and players to perform well,” he said.
He cited the Meghalaya Outstanding Direct Appointment Policy as a major incentive.
“From next year onwards, whoever brings medal from the National Games, they will get a government job. It is a huge encouragement for the athletes and players and their parents for their support.”
Shylla said decentralizing funds to associations had already shown results.
“From last year itself we have released Rs 39 crore for team preparation… because of these initiatives I would say that is why in the recently concluded India Khelo Games, the performance of Meghalaya was tremendous. Last year, Meghalaya’s rank in the India Khelo Tribal Games was 29 but this year, we finished at 13 rank.”
“We will continue to work hard and we will continue to support the athletes and I am sure next year, we will end at top 5 and hopefully we will be on the top,” he said.
“Because of all these initiatives and efforts, the results you can see and with all this, I am confident it is not only that we are able to host the National Games but we will also be able to perform well.”
On project deadlines, he said, “We cannot give exact deadline to all projects because there are projects which have started long time back and there projects which have just started.”
