If a state provides the best sports infrastructure, the same can serve as the best medicine to wean the youths away from drugs. Even developing sports grounds and providing first-class facilities to the youths is also a part of the Punjab Government’s campaign ‘Yudh Nashe Virudh’, said Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.

“When I was a child, I used to hear about Kila Raipur Olympics, especially about bullock cart races. Now I consider myself fortunate that I am watching the bullock cart race live as this race is considered the backbone of the rural sports,” CM Mann said while addressing a huge gathering at Kila Raipur on Thursday.

Mann was accompanied by former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia.

The CM said no leader should talk about politics from such stages as the Kila Raipur Olympics, where people, though they may be having specific political likings, had come to enjoy the traditional sports, and he too will remain apolitical and would talk about sports only, and the efforts required to be made to provide the best sports infrastructure. Even this ground had given birth to many great players like Dhyan Chand, etc.

He urged that villagers should unite to hold such events collectively and think above politics so that our youths can achieve accolades in sports.

Meanwhile, the CM urged Sisodia to release immediate funds to build roads in Kila Raipur, install flood lights, synthetic tracks, and astroturf for the stadium. Manish Sisodia didn’t address the gathering.