Dehradun, July 2, 2026: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Tuesday reviewed the Sports and Youth Welfare Department in the Secretariat and directed officials to complete the process of adjusting national medal-winning athletes into out of turn government service within the fixed timeline. He also asked the department to prepare a plan so that most such athletes are appointed within the Sports Department itself.
Dhami said the state’s new sports policy should be aligned with the Centre’s National Sports Policy 2025. He instructed officials to ensure that the Uttarakhand State Sports University at Golapar, Haldwani begins its session from next month, while also speeding up admission procedures, coach recruitment and appointments of other staff at the Golapar stadium.
The chief minister called for faster work on the legacy plan and said facilities developed for the 38th National Games should be made more useful for athletes. These include Maharana Pratap Sports College in Dehradun, Golapar Stadium in Haldwani, Rudrapur Velodrome, Tehri Lake, and stadiums in Haridwar and Pithoragarh. He said special attention must be given to maintenance of infrastructure created for the National Games and a proper action plan should be prepared.
Dhami also directed the department to start special training camps in different disciplines to prepare athletes for the 39th National Games in 2027. He asked that selection and talent identification be strengthened in coordination with sports federations. He said the state government’s goal is to deliver a better performance in the next National Games and establish Uttarakhand more firmly as a sports state.
The chief minister further said that under the “One District, One Sport” initiative, coaching, talent identification and competition systems should be developed for the selected sports in every district. He added that each district sports hostel should be developed as an ODOS sports nursery for the designated sport of that district.
Officials informed the meeting that 29 medal-winning athletes have already been adjusted into government jobs. Under the “One Block, One Mini Stadium” scheme, 48 mini stadiums have been built so far, 10 are under construction, and land transfer work is underway for others.
They also said work on India’s first women’s residential sports college at Lohaghat is progressing rapidly, with 16 posts created for its operation and admission procedures already underway. At the Golapar State Sports University in Haldwani, 39 infrastructure components are being developed, including an auditorium, central library, health centre, cafeteria, research centre, shooting range, seminar hall, badminton hall, football field, hockey field and an eight lane athletics track.
Sports Minister Rekha Arya, Chief Secretary R.K. Sudhanshu, Secretary Shailesh Bagoli, Special Principal Secretary Sports Amit Sinha, Director Sports Deepti Singh, Joint Director Shakti Singh, Deputy Director Neeraj Gupta and Assistant Director Rajesh Mamgai were present at the meeting.
