In a major push to combat drug addiction, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Sunday announced that the state government will develop 4,000 sports grounds in villages during the first phase of a new statewide initiative. The aim is to help youth stay away from drugs.
Addressing a press conference, Mann said work on 3,083 of these grounds is set to begin soon. “We have decided to develop these grounds. The work on 3,083 grounds is going to start and a total of 4,000 grounds will be developed in the first phase,” he said.
Mann emphasised that when children and teenagers get involved in sports, they’re far less likely to fall into bad habits and their energy is channelised in a positive way. We have nearly 12,500 villages in Punjab, and we want to ensure every village eventually has a quality sports ground, he added.
The Chief Minister also shared that athletes who won in international events will be roped in to train the youth, helping to promote a sporting culture across the state. Sports nurseries will also be developed to support clusters of nearby villages.
“There is no shortage of land,” Mann said. “The government is receiving hundreds of proposals from village Panchayats, for building sports stadiums in villages and even NRIs are willing to donate land for these playgrounds.”
This initiative is part of the broader “Yudh Nashian Virudh” (War Against Drugs) campaign being run by the Punjab government. Taking a dig at previous governments for their failure to curb drug menace, Maan said, "Youth were inclined towards sports and education. But during the previous governments' time, they were neither given grounds nor books. As they say, an idle mind is a devil's workshop, many youth fell into bad habits. Gradually, Punjab slipped into the quagmire of drugs and youngsters did not get the atmosphere they deserved.”
"Being a Punjabi and a sports lover, our aim is to pull the state's youth out of the drug menace. For that, we need to give them alternatives so they do not slip back into the habit," he said.
The government also plans to lay Astroturf fields, synthetic tracks, and improve infrastructure as needed, ensuring there’s no lack of funding or resources.
“Different regions of Punjab are known for excellence in specific sports — we’ll build on that strength and promote those sports locally,” Mann said, reaffirming the government’s focus on sports as a top priority.
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