SHILLONG, March 23: Sports and Youth Affairs Minister, Banteidor Lyngdoh on Tuesday said the state government will require an in-depth discussion on the possibilities of hosting the National Games in 2022.
“We will take a final call about hosting the National Games after discussing the pros and cons,” he said while reacting to a letter from the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) asking the state government to convene a meeting of the National Games Secretariat (NGA) to finalise the dates for the mega sports event.
According to him, the government will need to look into the logistics and other requirements besides developing the infrastructure to be able to host the National Games.
The IOA had written that they were happy to know the Meghalaya government was working proactively for staging the event.
“We wish you a very successful National Games in 2022. It is advised to put this big initiative in motion by convening a meeting of the NGA with all the stakeholders to decide on the dates for National Games and inform us accordingly,” the IOA wrote in the letter.
Lyngdoh said the government has gone ahead with the construction of the infrastructure for the National Games as part of the preparations.
He pointed out that the government lost a year of preparations for the event due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The government had spent a lot of funds in the fight against COVID-19. A lot of schemes were diverted towards the pandemic. Even the Centre had to divert a lot of funds towards COVID-19,” he said.
The Sport and Youth Affairs Minister said the government will require an action plan as a way forward for hosting the National Games.
On the main stadium for the games in New Shillong to be funded by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Lyngdoh said the state government is yet to hear from the ministry about this project.
“It is not in our hands since the decision to approve or sanction lies with the Ministry. We can only request the Ministry to approve the project,” Lyngdoh said.
The Sports and Youth Affairs Minister, however, said the state government was keen to host the National Games as part of the golden jubilee of Meghalaya’s statehood.