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Srinagar, Oct 18 (UNI) The Jammu and Kashmir government will soon launch a massive recruitment drive in the sports and physical education departments to fill about 2000 posts.

This was announced by Sports and Youth Services Minister Babu Singh at a news conference here today.

He said while 840 posts of physical teachers would be filled through direct recruitment, 386 posts of physical lecturers, and 1126 posts of physical masters would be through departmental promotions. The recruitment drive will be launched soon.

Mr Singh hailed Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad for increasing the budget of the department from Rs two crore to Rs five crore.

He informed that the All India Football Federation (AIFF) had awarded the hosting of the Santosh Trophy to Jammu and Kashmir and paid Rs 1.30 crore for the purpose.

However, Mr Singh said the tournament was later shifted to Haryana due to security reasons and also the infrastructure required for hosting the event was not completed on time.

He expressed the hope that Jammu and Kashmir will host the event next year as the required infrastructure would be put in place and other concerns addressed to by then.

Mr Singh said with the enhancement in budget, the department will send young football players of the state to academies in various countries such as Brazil and Australia.

Elections to several associations have not been conducted for the past many years, he said, adding details have been sought from the Sports Council in this regard.

The Minister said initiatives have been launched to convert Jammu and Kashmir State Sports Council into the Jammu and Kashmir Sports Authority. The Authority would be formed on the pattern of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, he added.

Mr Singh said he would soon undertake visit to these states to see how the authorities were functioning there.

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