Shmla, November 30 : Prof. Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister, said that State Government would explore possibilities of developing more Golf courses at Dharamshala, Dalhousie, Nalagarh and Baddi areas of the State. He was speaking on the occasion of Prize Distribution function of Himachal Pradesh Golf Association, organized here late last evening.
Chief Minister said that Golf had been included in Olympics scheduled for the year 2016 at Rio-de-Janeiro and Himachal Pradesh Golf Association was seeking affiliation with Himachal Pradesh Olympic Association and Indian Golf Union. He said that Naldehra Golf course was being re-designed to match the international standards so that regional and national-level Golf Tournaments could be organized to give boost to sports tourism. He said that with the development of more Golf Courses, youth would be attracted to play the game and make their mark in national and international-level games. He said that Naldehra Golf Court happened to be one of the oldest Golf Courts in the country where not only national but international golfers had also played the game.
Prof. Dhumal said that Golf was purely a technical game which takes time to master. He said that Shimla had two Golf courses one at Naldehra and another at Annandale which had emerged popular field to the golfers of all age. He said that Shimla was a popular tourist destination in the world where maximum number of tourists visited. He said that double of the population of the State, 1.32 crore tourists had visited Himachal during preceding financial year which included 4.53 lakh foreigners and the number was much higher to the foreigners visiting Goa. He said that out of total 51 Awards won by the State in almost all major sectors, majority had been in the tourism sector. He said that tourism had been the premier employment and self-employment generating sector in the state and with the boost to sports activities, it would automatically get strengthened. He said that for facilitating the golfers playing at Naldehra, State Government had taken the road passing from the course outside by diverting the same. He said that merged road portion would also be developed to facilitate the convenient playing of golf in the course. He congratulated ‘HPGA Golfer of the Year’ Shri Arjun Sood for winning the Award and hoped that he would be a source of inspiration to the budding golfers.
Chief Minister gave away prizes to the winners of different events and released souvenir brought out to mark the ceremony.
Shri I.D.Bhandari, Director General of Police and President, Himachal Pradesh Golf Association, welcomed the Chief Minister and thanked him for giving away the prizes to the winners of the tournament. He urged Chief Minister to develop more Golf Courses in different parts of the State and said that with the development of Golf Courses across Trans-Himalayan Region, large number of foreigners could be attracted to visit the areas thereby giving boost to the sports tourism.
Shri A.N.Sharma, Commissioner, Municipal Corporation and Golf Captain, Naldehra Golf Course, proposed vote of thanks.
Dr. D.S.Manhas, Director General of Police, Major General M.S.Pillai, Shri V.C.Pharka, Principal Secretary, Youth Services and Sports, Smt. Manisha Nanda, Principal Secretary, Tourism, Shri Harish Janartha, Deputy Mayor, Municipal Corporation, Shimla and other senior officers and members of both the Clubs were present on the occasion.
