Chennai: Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami today inaugurated the ”Amma Ilaignar Vilayattu Thittam” via video conferencing from the Secretariat here today.
The scheme was inaugurated at the Kiloy village panchayat ground in Sriperumbudur. During the event, Palaniswami also launched the logo of the scheme.
A press release said the scheme is introduced with the aim to develop leadership skills and unity among the youth. Palaniswami also inaugurated a a hostel in Trichy which was constructed at a cost of Rs 96 lakh.
Apart from this, he handed over cheques to the tune of Rs 2.36 crore to 36 players who won various medals in the recently concluded 13th South Asian games which were held from 1 to 10 December at Kathmandu in Nepal.
Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, Ministers K A Sengottaiyan and D Jayakumar were also present during the inauguration.
The ”Amma Ilaignar Vilayattu Thittam” scheme was announced by Palaniswami in the Assembly during which he said it will be implemented in 12,524 village panchayats and 528 town panchayats at a cost of Rs 76.24 crore.
He further said ”Amma Ilaignar Vilayattu Kuzhu” will be formed by the Youth Welfare and Sports Development Department to train young boys and girls.
”Steps will be taken to setup ground to play any three sports such as Kabadi, Volleyball, cricket and football. Appropriate award and honour will be given to the sports persons from the State who win in senior and junior levels at international tournaments,” he said.
He further said the old building of the Sports Development Authority located near Chennai Nehru Park will be razed and a new building will be constructed at a cost of Rs 5 crore.
”The scheme is expected to be implemented in phased manner. The first priority will be to build national level sports club in rural areas. Once all the infrastructure developments takes place, a committee will set out to find the local talents who will be trained at these facilities. They will be later made to participated in various tournaments at village, district and state level,” sources added.