‘Aadudam Andhra’ is of immense importance: CM 47-day sports festival will begin on December 26 and end on February 10

Stating that the ‘Aadudam Andhra’ sports festival beginning December 26 would work as an instrument of fitness exercise for people and supplement the government’s efforts to consolidate preventive health care measures, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy directed the officials to make it successful.
At a review meeting of the ‘Aadudam Andhra’ event held at the Camp Office here on Wednesday, the Chief Minister told district collectors and senior officials virtually that the festival is of immense importance for the State and directed them to have full preparedness to make it a memorable event.
Like the other successful programmes from giving a facelift to 45,000 schools under Nadu-Nedu to establishing village and ward secretariats to launching village clinics and implementing family doctor concept to conducting Jagananna Arogya Suraksha, the government has taken the sports festival also as a challenge, he said and asked them to make it successful like the other ones.
He said officials in various departments should coordinate with the CMO and Chief Secretary Dr KS Jawahar Reddy in conducting the unprecedented sports festival successfully and turning it into another benchmark in State history.
Besides working as a fitness event for the people, the 47-day sports festival, which will begin on December 26 and end on February 10, will also bring out the hidden talents of the village youth and help them shine in sports events at the national level, he said.
Cricket, Kabaddi, Kho-kho, Volleyball and Badminton competitions should be conducted from the village to State-level as part of this festival and steps should be taken to encourage the talented at the national-level, he said, adding that programmes like 3-km marathon should be conducted from district to constituency-level to create awareness among the public. It would be a guiding spirit for the future generations, he said.
Asking the officials to review the preparedness to conduct the festival at the identified 9,043 playgrounds in 14,997 village and ward secretariats, the Chief Minister advised them to prepare an action plan to conduct it in December every year. The total number of registrations has reached 1.23crore, he added.
He told them to make use of the play grounds and stadia at all schools, colleges, universities and in the district headquarters for conducting the event and display the posters at villages and ward secretariats well before December 26.
“All people above the age of 15 years, especially girls, should be encouraged to participate in the festival,” he said, adding that 34.19 lakh youth are participating and officials should send the quality kits to the grounds well in advance.
He said while Chennai Super Kings and Andhra Cricket Association have come forward to identify the talented in Cricket, PV Sindu and Srikanth will identify the best in Badminton.
Similarly, Prime Volleyball, Pro Kabaddi and AP Kho Kho Association will do the needful to spot the talented youth in the respective fields, he said, adding that 21 brand ambassadors and 345 district level talented sportsmen and women are coming forward to promote the festival.
The Chief Minister said that Rs.5 lakh, Rs. 60,000,Rs 35,000 would be given to first prize winners at the State, district and constituency levels, respectively, in Kho-kho, volleyball, cricket and Kabaddi events. Rs. 3 lakh, Rs, 30,000 and Rs.15,000 would be given as second prizes in the respective categories.
A cash prize of Rs. 2 lakh, Rs.10, 000 and Rs.5000 would be given as third prize at the State, district and constituency-levels, respectively, he said, adding that badminton winners will be given Rs.2 lakh, Rs. 35,000 and 25,000 as first prize at the State, district and constituency-levels, respectively .
Badminton second prize winners will receive Rs.1 lakh, Rs. 20,000 and Rs. 10,000 at the State, district and constituency-levels, respectively, while Rs. 50,000, Rs. 10,000 and Rs.5000 would be given for third prize winners.
Education Minister B Satyanarayana, Sports and Tourism Minister RK Roja, CS Dr KS Jawahar Reddy, SAAP Chairman B Siddharth Reddy, Tourism and Sports Principal Secretary Pradyumna, Municipal Administration Commissioner P. Koteswara Rao, SAAP VC & MD HM Dhyan Chandra, sports persons Ambati Rayudu, PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikath, Saket Mineni, V Jyothi Surekha, SK Jafreen and several senior officials were among those present.