DC Sumeet Jarangal initiates big steps to promote sports in Muktsar
By Amrit Pal Singh Brar
Sri Muktsar Sahib: 12 September, 2017: Sri Muktsar Sahib is touching new heights in the promotion of sports after the young IAS officer; Sumeet Jarangal took over as Deputy Commissioner of this remote dusty district. He is 17th Deputy Commissioner of this district. He joined on 6th February, 2016.
After joining as DC, Sumeet Jarangal identified that there was a lack of proper avenues, facilities, recreation & a sense of general well being was missing, thereby the lives of the people were prone to social evils like drug abuse, unemployment, medical conditions and crime. He started working on them one by one, though he was facing a tight work schedule due to weekly sangat darshans of the then Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.
Speaking to APS, Sumeet Jarangal said “We decided to setup an agenda to address all possible alternatives to all issues that were identified. Promotion of sports was one of our priorities”.
To pursue this goal in better way, Sumeet Jarangal constituted District Olympic Association (DOA) with an aim to coordinate all the sports activities under one umbrella. Interestingly, there was no DOA in the district though the district was formed in 1995.
Sumeet Jarangal said “We have constituted DOA in 2016 and organised a team of all the district level sports associations to make it widely represented by sports fraternity”. A professionally expert was made manager to handle the day to day affairs of DOA, he said.
To encourage sports in the district, the association has provided grants for infrastructure, resource and stadium development in the disciplines of football, basketball, volleyball, tennis and kabaddi. One of such contribution is to the Ratta Tibba football club, where they raised a world class football stadium using this grant, giving the local youth a level playing field to become skilful players. Similar assistance for various sports has been provided to other locations in the district as well. The District Olympic Association, Sri Muktsar Sahib turned a dream project of an international-standard basketball court into reality at GGS Stadium, Sri Muktsar Sahib. Equipped with floodlighting system, this court was inaugurated in August 2017 and has created a sense of excitement & fervour not only in the local sporting community, but in general population as well, as more & more people from the city and neighbouring areas are thronging to this stadium to practice and play. The association has also employed a full time qualified & experienced basketball coach for the players.
DC Sumeet Jarangal further said “Apart from sports activities, the association promotes general well being by taking up construction of green spaces, running tracks, public parks so that every citizen can be motivated to adopt a healthy life style”. The association raises awareness regarding social evils like sex ratio, low participation in election and highlights the importance of fundamental duties of citizens, he said.
Apart from infrastructural grants, in order to help players practice with high-quality sporting goods & equipments, the association has provided aid for the purchase & arrangement of goods for the sports of shooting, archery, hockey, gymnastics, table tennis, athletics and basketball. A momentous case is that of the three athletes from Gidderbaha “Radha Rani, Rajveer Kaur and Pinki Rani “whom the association granted aid for their travel to Sri Lanka to represent India at the 3rd Students Olympic International Games, Colombo 2017. They won 5 individual medals at that event. Another notable example is a financial aid provided to Gurwinder Singh, a basketball player from Malout, who using the resources provided by the association, managed to clinch the gold at U19 national basketball championship 2017 at Noida. The association provided assistance to the shooters of the district, with the purchase of latest shooting equipment which has helped the players maintain the winning streak.
The District Olympic Association, Sri Muktsar Sahib is being instrumental in the civic works, reconstruction and development of the public park near Peori Phatak, Gidderbaha. This public park would provide the locals much needed aesthetic, clean, pollution-free and serene space where they could unwind, kick back & de-stress in the vast stretches of green.