NTPC, REC sign MOU with National Sports Dev. Fund

New Delhi: National Sports Development Fund (NSDF) of Department of Sports, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports on Wednesday signed an historic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NTPC (National Thermal Power Corporation) Foundation and REC (Rural Electrification Corporation) Foundation for development of sports in the country.
The MoU was signed in the presence of Union Sports Minister Anurag Singh Thakur and Union Minister of Power and New and Renewable Energy RK Singh.
The financial support to be given by NTPC is Rs 115 Crores over the next 5 years and they will be supporting Archery discipline in India
REC Foundation has also committed an amount of Rs 100 Crores over 3 years to support Women’s Hockey, Athletics and Boxing. The support towards NSDF has come through their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) mandate.
Managing Director of REC Vivek Kumar Dewangan and CMD NTPC Gurdeep Singh, DG SAI Sandip Pradhan, as well as athletes and coaches from Archery, Boxing, Hockey and Athletics disciplines, including Abhishek Verma (Compound Archery), Savita Punia (Women’s Hockey), Amit Panghal (Men’s Boxing) and Avinash Sable (Men’s 3000m Steeplechase) were also present on the occasion.
The support from NTPC and REC Foundation will cover the following: Grassroots development of the sports, training of identified talent, training of elite talent, coach development, sports science support, advance training and more.
Speaking on the occasion Thakur said: “Everyone, from the corporates to individuals and from various institutions to States, should work together as a team. This MoU signing will give a big motivation to our athletes.
“Earlier, I had urged online donations at NSDF, to adopt an athlete, a sport and an academy. Now, both NTPC and REC have adopted both sports and athletes. There are many PSUs but the ones who come forward help in building soft power of India, help athletes keep away from addiction and also motivate them to perform higher at the international stage.”
Elaborating on the MoU signed, Singh said: “We from the Power Ministry are extremely happy to have done something for the further development of sports in India, through NTPC and REC. We have adopted just a few sports disciplines today but going forward, we want to adopt more disciplines and continue with the development of more facilities and coaches.
“We promise that our Ministry will be associated in doing all possible in further development of sports in the country. Creating sports culture in the country is part of Nation building. ” (UNI)