Chief Minister Prof. (Dr.) Manik Saha on Monday said that sports play a supportive role in the development of a healthy body and a healthy mind, and in addition to developing themselves; the youth should be more involved in sports for the benefit of society and the country.

Dr Saha said this while formally inaugurating the MLA Cup Football Competition at Boxanagar Mini Stadium on Monday.

He said that the central and state governments have paid special attention to improving the quality of sports.

“The current state government has taken various steps to develop sports infrastructure. As part of this initiative, eight synthetic football grounds and synthetic hockey grounds have already been built in different places in the state. A high-quality swimming pool has also been arranged for the swimmers of the state,” said Dr Saha.

Laying emphasis on building a drug-free society, the Chief Minister said that the more the youth are involved in sports, the stronger the fight against addiction will be.

Calling on the youth to take a leading role in the movement against drug addiction, the Chief Minister said that the state government has adopted a zero-tolerance policy towards drug addiction.

MLA Tafazzal Hossain, Swapna Nama, Chairman of Boxanagar Panchayat Samiti, District Magistrate of Sepahijala district Dr. Siddharth Shiv Jaiswal, Superintendent of Police Bijay Debbarma, BDO of Boxanagar block Sanjib Kumar Pal, and others were present.

Sixteen teams from within and outside the state are participating in this football competition that began on Monday.