77 govt schools’ playgrounds will now facilitate other sporting activities

The Delhi Cabinet on Wednesday approved the Department of Education’s proposal to allow 77 playgrounds of government schools which are run in single shifts, for outdoor sports activities for the students and youth of respective areas.

“The playgrounds will be allowed for use to entities like sports associations and clubs, strictly for organising sporting events. Individuals interested in athletics can also use these premises so also can those interested in training and coaching students,” a government official said.

The permission for using these playgrounds will be given by the concerned District Deputy Director of Education on a written proposal forwarded by concerned Heads of Schools. The Department of Education has pointed out that students and youth of Delhi do not have enough open spaces for participating in sporting activities.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet also extended the scheme of paying Rs one crore ex-gratia to the families of those defence personnel who lose their lives on account of operations, calamities and disaster.

Earlier, the Cabinet had approved the scheme of paying Rs one crore ex-gratia to war widows, war disabled, prisoners of war, missing in war/operations etc for defence personnel, Delhi Police, Home Guards, Civil Defence etc.

As per the scheme, the next kin of the deceased would be eligible to get Rs 1 crore as ex-gratia. The next of kin of the following category of personnel are covered in this scheme. A defence personnel dying in operations/war, if his permanent address recorded at the time of joining service is Delhi.

In an another major decision, the Cabinet approved the PWD proposal for comprehensive maintenance of roads. One of the major causes of air pollution in Delhi is the fine suspended particulate matters (PM 2.5 and PM 10) due to dust on roads and construction sites.

The dust gathered on roads due to improper or non-cleaning of roads is compounded further by lakhs of vehicles running on the Delhi roads. Manual sweeping of roads contributes further to rising levels of air pollution since fine particles fly during sweeping and remain suspended thereafter.

In view of the existing situation, the Cabinet approved the proposal authorising the PWD to carry out mechanised sweeping of PWD roads to begin with and introduce Mechanised Stack Parking System on PWD roads.