Archers in action at the state games in Nagaon. File picture

Guwahati, July 5: Assam Olympic Association (AOA) has moved Dispur for funds to develop infrastructure at the district level by allocating annual budget funds for the state games.

In order to facilitate the government to make the provision, the AOA has decided to hold the state-level event every four years instead of the earlier biennial format. “We requested our president (chief minister Tarun Gogoi) to initiate the move in a recent executive meeting and he appeared positive about it,” AOA treasurer Raj Kakati told The Telegraph here.

“The basic idea is to help the districts develop sports infrastructure and motivate them to host the state games regularly like they do in case of National Games by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA),” he said.

Elaborating on the proposal, Kakati said the annual budget could earmark about Rs 5 crore every year, which would be sanctioned to the district which hosts the state games to develop ground and indoor stadia.

“In four years, a host district could avail up to Rs 20 crore as government fund to develop infrastructure. It is not necessary to have galleries around the grounds. Instead, the grounds can be developed with a park, comprising joggers’ track around the playing arena. Besides, at least one indoor stadium could be built with the funds. This way, every district would be enthusiastic about hosting the event as they will benefit by the new infrastructure,” he said.

However, the concerned departments in Dispur said they were yet to get any formal directive from the chief minister’s office to earmark funds. Sources, however, pointed out that such provisions could be made even without budget allocation. “There happens to be enough funds under the town and urban development head from which could be earmarked for sports infrastructure development in the district headquarter towns,” an official said.

The different state Olympic associations across the country bid to host the National Games because they get the opportunity to develop infrastructure with financial assistance from the Centre and sponsors.

The state games were introduced in Tezpur in 1994 but were not held after that till 2010, when it was revived by the AOA at Nagaon under the auspices of Nowgong Sports Association.

After the Nagaon edition, Guwahati was awarded the biennial event and when the Guwahati Sports Association expressed its inability to host the event last year owing to paucity of funds, the AOA volunteered to host it here by December 2012. However, the AOA, too, could not organise the games in time because of various constraints and eventually resolved to hold the event every four years.

The state games is a platform where players from various corners of Assam get an opportunity to showcase their talent so the state sports associations as well as the AOA could pick them for grooming.