Tripura to introduce sports quota in govt jobs, says minister Sushanta Chowdhury

The percentage of reservation will be decided by the government soon, said Tripura Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Sushanta Chowdhury.

Tripura Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Sushanta Chowdhury (Left) speaking to reporters at the state secretariat in Agartala. (Express photo/Debraj Deb)

The Tripura government on Friday announced its decision to introduce reservation in jobs for eminent and promising sportspersons from the state and said it was studying the sports reservation policies in various states before formulating a policy of its own.

Speaking to reporters at the state secretariat in Agartala this afternoon, state Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Sushanta Chowdhury said, “Sports infrastructure and sports sector was totally ignored under the erstwhile Left Front regime. We want to raise our sports sector to national and international levels. Sports sector used to be a haven of politics in the past. We are working to develop infrastructure across Tripura. We have also decided to introduce sports reservation at the group C and group D level”.

Based on a study of reservation policies in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Maharashtra, the reservation was found to be around 2-6 per cent in different states, the minister said. “We have initiated a proposal to reserve jobs for players who have done national meets, have physical and mental standards to attend physical meets or so. We have processed the files. Work is going on between departments. The percentage of reservation will be decided by the government,” he added.

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Regarding sports infrastructure, the minister said a synthetic sports turf will come up for athletes at Khowai district and at Badharghat in West Tripura under the Khelo India scheme, apart from state-funded sports infrastructure including synthetic football turfs and floodlighting at the Umakanta mini stadium in Agartala. Synthetic football turfs will also be set up at Jirania in West Tripura while synthetic hockey turfs are being built at Jampuijala, Badharghat in the district.

The minister said that once the infrastructure for football, swimming and athletics is developed, players would be groomed and selected to be prepared for world-class competitive events.

In addition, Chowdhury said the sports and youth affairs department will also start a campaign against drug menace, which includes street plays and awareness programmes in various parts of the state.

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