GUWAHATI: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Tuesday said the state would have 50 artificial football turfs by 2028. The state is also building infrastructure to provide training and facilities to youngsters at the grassroots level. “We will be having 50 artificial turfs by 2028. Twenty-five of them are under construction while 25 others are to be constructed. We will have the largest number of artificial turfs in the country. The cost of each is somewhere around Rs 10 crore, so we will be spending Rs 500 crore,” Sangma told the media. He said the youth of Meghalaya are passionate about football and it made the state government push the game. He also said that with Indian Super League club Northeast United FC shifting its base to Shillong and putting up a centre of excellence at the hill station for training, the state government approached the club for partnership in the grassroots programme.“They will support us in whatever way they can. They are working out the details,” Sangma said.Stating that the aim is to target about 25,000 children through the grassroots football programmes, the chief minister said the state government was working on creating funds. He said support would be given to leagues and clubs which qualify at a certain level.The state government has also identified canoeing and kayaking for promotion after realising potentials.“We want to build sports to create jobs for the youth. We hope that the investments we make in sports will allow us to create close to 15,000 direct and indirect jobs. We are trying to create an economy out of music and sports. That’s a passion for us,” Sangma, who himself is a football aficionado, said.He said the investments would not yield results overnight as success comes after a due process.“We see the investment in sports as character-building of our youth. We want to win medals but you cannot quantify the outcome just on the basis of medals. We are creating an ecosystem for sports and making sports a culture and a part of the lives of our children from all angles,” he further said.
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