ETV Bharat: Srinagar: Sunday, 16 August 2026.
RTI data reveals Jammu and Kashmir filled only 60 sports department vacancies in five years, with 128 sports infrastructure projects unfinished due to funding shortages.
The Jammu and Kashmir
Youth Services and Sports Department filled only 60 vacancies during Lieutenant
Governor Manoj Sinha’s five-year tenure, according to Right to Information
(RTI) data. It also revealed that at least 128 sports infrastructure projects
remained unfinished due to funding shortages.
The details were provided by the Directorate of Youth Services and Sports in response to a query by RTI activist and journalist MM Shuja.
According to the department, the posts filled during the period included 19 physical education lecturers, 35 junior assistants and six multi-tasking staff members.
The RTI response also revealed that 128 sports infrastructure projects across Jammu and Kashmir could not be completed during 2024 and 2025 because of inadequate funding.
The delayed projects
include playfields, indoor sports halls, synthetic athletic tracks, football
turfs, hockey fields, volleyball courts, badminton courts and basketball
grounds in several districts across the Union Territory.
Among the major pending projects are a synthetic athletic track at Khelgaon Nagrota in Jammu, a synthetic turf hockey field at the same venue, a synthetic football turf at Parade Ground Jammu, a synthetic hockey field at Government Boys Higher Secondary School Poonch, a synthetic football turf at Government College of Physical Education Ganderbal and a youth hostel at GCOPE Ganderbal.
The department said the projects are being executed by agencies including the Jammu and Kashmir Sports Council, the Public Works Department and the Rural Development Department.
Official records indicate that some projects were delayed because work had not started, while others were retendered or faced site-related issues. In one case, funds for a synthetic hockey field in Poonch were surrendered after the contractor failed to begin work.
RTI data reveals Jammu and Kashmir filled only 60 sports department vacancies in five years, with 128 sports infrastructure projects unfinished due to funding shortages.
 |
File photo of Jammu
Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha at a felicitation ceremony of a sports
event. (ANI) |
The details were provided by the Directorate of Youth Services and Sports in response to a query by RTI activist and journalist MM Shuja.
According to the department, the posts filled during the period included 19 physical education lecturers, 35 junior assistants and six multi-tasking staff members.
The RTI response also revealed that 128 sports infrastructure projects across Jammu and Kashmir could not be completed during 2024 and 2025 because of inadequate funding.
 |
File photo of athletes
showcase their skills during an event organised by Jammu and Kashmir Sports
Council as part of the Khelo India 10 Ka Dum programme, at Indoor Stadium Polo
View, in Srinagar on Mar 16, 2023. (ANI) |
Among the major pending projects are a synthetic athletic track at Khelgaon Nagrota in Jammu, a synthetic turf hockey field at the same venue, a synthetic football turf at Parade Ground Jammu, a synthetic hockey field at Government Boys Higher Secondary School Poonch, a synthetic football turf at Government College of Physical Education Ganderbal and a youth hostel at GCOPE Ganderbal.
The department said the projects are being executed by agencies including the Jammu and Kashmir Sports Council, the Public Works Department and the Rural Development Department.
Official records indicate that some projects were delayed because work had not started, while others were retendered or faced site-related issues. In one case, funds for a synthetic hockey field in Poonch were surrendered after the contractor failed to begin work.
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