Meghalaya on Wednesday signed the host city contract for hosting the 39th National Games in 2022.
With the signing of the contract, it is certain that Meghalaya will host the games when the state would celebrate 50 years of statehood in 2022.
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The contract signing ceremony was held at Yojana Bhavan inside the main secretariat here on Wednesday in which Meghalaya additional chief secretary, P.W. Ingty singed on behalf of the Meghalaya government, secretary general of the Indian Olympic Association, Rajeev Mehta and working president of the Meghalaya State Olympic Association, John F. Kharshiing, in the presence of Meghalaya arts and culture minister, Ronnie V. Lyngdoh and other dignitaries.
After Manipur and Assam that hosted the National Games in 1999 and 2007 respectively, Meghalaya will be the third state to host the games in 2022.
In his brief speech, Lyngdoh said, hosting the games in 2022 when state would celebrate its golden jubilee would be a historic event which would also provide larger platform for sports persons to showcase their talents.
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Terming it a golden day for Meghalaya for signing the host city contract, Mehta assured all supports from the IOA side and expressed hope that the best ever national games would be hosted in Meghalaya in 2022.
Thanking chief minister Mukul Sangma, leader of opposition in Assembly, Donkupar Roy and others involved in pushing Meghalaya as the host state, Mehta said that the national games would also provide wonderful opportunities for sportspersons from the Northeast to showcase their talents.
Speaking to reporters after the ceremony, Mehta said, after signing the contract, the next step for Meghalaya would be to prepare a budget proposal for creating of infrastructure. According to Mehta, Meghalaya would require lot of infrastructure.
“We have set timelines for all projects and they should get ready by 2021, one year ahead of 2022. Under the contract, each work has to be completed within a fixed timeline,” he said.
Asked about the delay to complete the infrastructure, Mehta said, a penalty of Rs 2 crore per year would be imposed in case of any delay.
He also said that the Centre and the state government has to share funds for creating of infrastructure, which will come 30 per cent from the Centre, and 70 per cent will be borne by the state government.
Earlier, Meghalaya had paid Rs. 50 lakh as bidding amount for the national games out of Rs 5 crore.
After signing the host city contract on Wednesday, the Meghalaya government handed over a cheque for the remaining Rs.4.5 crore to the IOA.