Bathinda heads towards becoming a sports hub

Focusing upon the promotion of sports activities in the Bathinda region, which was once called backwaters of Punjab, the state government is pumping in crores to make it a sports hub equipped with ultra-modern infrastructure.
For the purpose, Rs 42-crore state sports school is coming up at Ghudda (Bathinda), two main stadiums in the city are being given a total facelift at the cost of nearly Rs 20 crore.
Besides being well-equipped with the state-of-the-art facilities, both the stadiums will have floodlights while one of them will have an Astroturf for hockey.
As the first batch of the state sports school, without waiting for the actual building to come up, has been started from its transit campus at the Giani Zail Singh College of Engineering and Technology, Bathinda, the pace of construction work of the stadiums has also been enhanced.
Demolishing the existing structures of the main Sports Stadium and the Government Rajindra College stadium, foundations are being raised at a fast pace.
It is learnt that the absolute face-lifting of the main sports stadium is a project worth Rs 7.5 crore while revamping of the Rajindra College stadium will cost nearly Rs 12 crore.
To ensure the speedy and better execution, the projects are assigned to two different agencies-the Bathinda Development Authority (the main Sports Stadium) and the Punjab Mandi Board (the Rajindra College stadium).
The main sports stadium will have two separate pavilions for VIPs and VVIPs.
The foundation stone of the stadium was laid on February 17 this year with a target to complete the construction by October 26. However, the agency executing the project has now been verbally directed to complete it by August 15.
The state-of-the-art stadium at the Government Rajindra College will not only be one of its kind in the region but is also being seen as a nursery for budding hockey players.
Src.The Tribune Chandigarh