Every village to have a play ground:

Kakinada, Sep 30 (UNI) Every village with a population of 4,500 in the state will be sanctioned a sports ground at a cost of Rs one lakh and Rs 10,000 for their annual maintenance.

Addressing a press conference here today, Minister for sports and youth services R Damodar Reddy said efforts were being made to construct mini stadia in an area of seven and half acres in every assembly constituency.

A Hockey Academy has been sanctioned for Kakinada on the lines of other academies, he said and added there were already 17 sports academies in the state.

Earlier, the Minister unveiled a statue of Dayan Chand, the doyen of Indian Hockey at the district sports stadium.

Zilla Parishad Chairman C H S Venugopalakrishna, MLC Sesha Reddy, MLAs Mutha Gopalakrishna, Dommeti Venkataeswerlu and Superintendent of police Y Nagireddy attended the function.

UNI XR/BR IG AKM 2038