Bhubaneswar, June 26: As many as 39 meritorious sportspersons of the State from various field joined the State Police Service on Saturday. While 30 of them are women sports persons, nine are men. Previously, 96 sportspersons have been appointed in various ranks of Odisha Police in six phases.
Joining an induction programme for these new entrants to the State police on virtual platform, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said that the State will continue to support the sportspersons in every possible manner to enable them to achieve their dreams. The State will produce many sportspersons, and make the state and country proud in the coming years, he emphasised.
Congratulating the personnel for joining the police service, the Chief Minister said, “It’s a big moment for you to join a job and share the responsibilities of your families. I am sure your parents and families are proud of your achievement. It requires lot of passion, discipline and hard work to excel in sports.”
Putting a premium on the youth of the state, he said that youth are the future of our State. Sports is the best way to teach good virtues and channelize the energies of youth in a positive manner. Therefore, investment in sports is investment in youth. Investment in youth is investment in the future of this State, he added.
Speaking on State’s achievements, he said that we have embarked on a journey to make Odisha a sports powerhouse. In the last few years, Odisha has featured prominently in the sports sector in the country. We have successfully hosted a number of national and international events. Hockey World Cup 2018 and Asian Athletics championship 2017 have been a great success for the State, he added.
Stating that the State is investing more than Rs 1000 crores in developing the sports infrastructure across the state, he added that we are building India’s largest hockey stadium in Rourkela for the Hockey World Cup in 2023.
On the State’s strategy in sports, he said that we have partnered with Corporates and eminent sportspersons to start High Performance centres. Coaching at the grassroots level and sports education in schools is a major focus area to develop sports across the state, he added.
He further said that our Para athletes have also been performing well at international level. Sh Pramod Bhagat, Arjuna Awardee, has qualified for Paralympics and is a leading contestant for the medal. We would like to continue to financially support our para athletes and also provide job related support for them to excel in the sports field, he added.
The Chief Minister launched the extension of e-FIR under the 5T initiative for public Place Theft. It will help people in lodging FIR relating to chain snatching, laptop, mobile theft etc at public places. They need not go to any police station and lodge an FIR from any place any time in virtual police station at State Crime Record Bureau. The complainant will also get an SMs alert on the progress of the investigation.
ACS (Home) Sanjeev Chopra, DGP Abhay, Principal Secrtary Sports Vishal Dev also spoke on the occasion, Director (Intelligence) Lalit Das, Secretary to CM (5T) VK Pandian attended the event.
