The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) has increased the allocation of funds for sports and health facilities by seven times in 2019-20, with plans to establish a stadium and a swimming pool in each of the four MCG zones. The civic body also plans to increase the fumigation drives and establish more mobile medical units, officials said.

The MCG has allocated funds of Rs 70 crore in the new budget under the sports and health category, against an estimated budget of Rs 10 crore in the last fiscal.

In March 2018, during a House meeting, the MCG had a passed an agenda for making a stadium and a swimming pool in each of the four MCG zones. The project has been pending since then, with officials citing delay in approval from the state as a reason for the hold up. Officials said the hold-up had resulted in the MCG not being able to spend a single penny out of Rs 10 crore allocated fund.

As per officials, upgrading the swimming at Kamla Nehru Park to an Olympic-size pool and a site in Wazirabad to build a new stadium will benefit from this allocation, aside from other yet to be finalised areas.

MCG commissioner Yashpal Yadav had said in March 2018 that since the only public grounds for sports of significance are the Tau Devi Lal stadium’s cricket and football stadiums, and the multipurpose Nehru stadium, there was a major shortage of sporting areas in the city, and hence, in the last fiscal, the MCG had decided to establish a stadium in each of the four zones.

For bolstering health facilities, the new budget has made provisions for fumigation services and establishing more mobile medical units through which medical immunization and free-medicine distribution camps will be organized for those living in rural areas and the slums.

“There are several areas in Gurugram, especially villages, where medical facilities are not in close proximity. Hence, for their assistance, the MCG sends mobile units to ensure diseases and illnesses are contained. In addition, increased fumigation drives has been put forward for countering vector-borne diseases,” Yadav said Monday.

Last year, 93 cases of dengue were recorded in Gurugram, the highest in the past three years, and the disease also led to three fatalities. The city also registered 10 cases of malaria in 2018.

First Published: Feb 26, 2019 04:48 IST