Inspector realises Dummugudem’s long-pending dream of sports ground

The initiative of Dummugudem Inspector of Police (CI), Nalagatla Venkateshwarlu, who happens to be a successful athlete, a sprawling sports ground has been developed on about 2.5 acres of land behind the local Primary Health Centre (PHC).

Dummugudem (Kothagudem): Local youth and public who used to engage themselves in physical training activities like jogging, running and walking on roads here are now enjoying the luxury of a sports ground. Thanks to the initiative of Dummugudem Inspector of Police (CI), Nalagatla Venkateshwarlu, who happens to be a successful athlete, a sprawling sports ground has been developed on about 2.5 acres of land behind the local Primary Health Centre (PHC).

The CI’s efforts have been fostered by PHC Medical Officer Dr Balaji. The local sarpanches, officials of Panchayati Raj Department and Revenue Department and the owners of earth movers have lent their helping hand to complete the task. “Dummugudem lacked a sports ground and the local youth faced difficulty to develop mental and physical strength to excel in sports and education. Then I decided to develop a sports ground for their use,” Venkateshwarlu said.

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“I mooted the idea of converting an unused land behind the PHC into a sports field, and Dr Balaji readily agreed to the idea”, Venkateshwarlu told Telangana Today explaining how he embarked on the project. The CI and the doctor spent money from their pockets on the project, which took nearly two-month time to complete as the land was covered with bushes and huge boulders.

In the past the local youth and public used to walk or run on Cherla-Dummugudem road and it posed threat to their lives as heavy vehicles ply on the road. The main objective of the project was to help the youth, who are preparing for physical fitness tests for recruitment into the Army, Central forces and the police department, to train themselves in a peaceful atmosphere, the CI noted.

Venkateshwarlu, who served as the captain of AP netball team and was a university-level basketball player, has so far donated over 60 sports kits to the local youth. Last year he organised a mandal level and sub-division level volleyball tournaments in which nearly 52 teams comprising 500 players participated.

“I planned to organise a tournament this year also, but because of the Covid situation I couldn’t make it. After the situation returns to normalcy, I will make efforts to conduct a tournament and to physical training programmes for the youth”, he added. The CI thanked Dr Balaji, sarpanches, government officials, owners of earth movers as well as the media persons for their support in completing the task. The sports field consists of 100 metre, 200 metre tracks, high jump, long jump and shot put pitches.