National Games 2025: Expenditure of Rs 1,000 crore, several new venues, but legacy remains question mark | Sport-others News

The overwhelming smell of fresh paint, the rubble from relentless and hurried construction, and the heavy presence of police and security personnel are not enough to dampen the air of expectancy that fills Dehradun’s Rajat Jayanti Khel Parisar on the eve of the opening ceremony of the 2025 National Games.“We had always hoped, as sportspeople, that our state will have proper facilities for us to take advantage of,” Pawani Rawat, a 25m pol shooter who grew up in Roorkee and now lives in Dehradun, says. “It feels good that we were not wrong (to hope). A full electronic range in my city is big for me.”
That shooting range is a new indoor facility built from scratch, alongside other additions in the complex like a new multipurpose hall and a renovated athletics track, as part of the state government’s Rs 1,000 crore infrastructure-building spree to host these Games. And they harbour ambitions as grand as the cost.
More than 10,000 athletes across 35 disciplines are expected to arrive in Uttarakhand over 16 days in what is, far, the biggest sporting event – perhaps an event of any kind – that the hill state has ever hosted. It’s a logical minefield.
Before Tuesday’s grand opening ceremony in Dehradun’s Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, set to be attended Prime Miner Narendra Modi, an organisational setback has already hit the Games. (Credit: express Photo Namit Kumar)
Before Tuesday’s grand opening ceremony in Dehradun’s Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, set to be attended Prime Miner Narendra Modi, an organisational setback has already hit the Games.
In Haldwani, one of the nine dricts hosting the Games, the Swimming Federation of India (SFI) has complained to the organising committee that the aquatics athletes have been put up in hotels at Corbett and Bhimtal, at least a 90-minute drive from the venue.
Despite the schedule of the Games being known for months, the organisers revealed the details of the accommodation only a day before the participants arrived, and three days before the competition was set to begin. “All this could have been done earlier. Of course the swimmers, who have heats in the morning then finals in the evening, should not be staying more than 30 km away from the city. This is an avoidable issue,” a senior SFI office-bearer told The Indian Express.
Meanwhile, back in the capital, the rewards of years of infrastructure-building are about to be reaped. The new and impressive – albeit incomplete – complex in Dehradun is not alone, facilities have been spruced up across the state, from Haldwani to Rudrapur.
None of this has come cheap. Estimates provided the state’s sports department last year suggested a cost of Rs 350 crore to host the event, but counting the infrastructure they have built, the number rises significantly. “Go back about 6-7 years, since we have been preparing for these Games, and the cost is around Rs 1,000 crore,” as one state official put it.
Despite the schedule of the Games being known for months, the organisers revealed the details of the accommodation only a day before the participants arrived, and three days before the competition was set to begin. (Express Photo Namit Kumar)
Aiming big
Uttarakhand’s ambition to build infrastructure and host events on a colossal scale aligns perfectly with that of the central government. They put themselves in the picture ever since the Games returned after a seven-year break in Gujarat in 2022, being held in Goa the year after.
But what does the state have to gain once the Games end? “Outcomes are not only objective, they can be subjective too,” Prashant Arya, additional CEO of the National Games, says. “Our youth has always been inclined to sports but how many of them would have witnessed an event like this, seeing the players and meeting them?”
In the near future, putting these new, expensively-assembled assets to use may be the big challenge. Arya, who also serves as Director of Sports in Uttarakhand, is confident of doing so. “The infrastructure doesn’t disappear after the Games. Our focus is clear and plans are in place: to run academies and centres of excellence at the sites,” he claims.
Uttarakhand does not boast of a long line of world-beaters or medalls in its sporting hory. Among them, most – like Abhinav Bindra, Jaspal Rana and Rishabh Pant – have earned their stripes elsewhere. The state’s harsh winters and hilly terrain don’t exactly make it a sports hub.
State-of-the-art facilities may change that. “I have always been travelling either to Delhi or Bhopal for national camps, but this range may bring some here too,” Pawani says. “I hadn’t thought that such a big centre with so many sports facilities, like wushu and equestrian, would be built here itself. It’s quite a big achievement for our state to even be able to hold a national event like this.”
Preparations at the stadium hosting the ceremony, and the Prime Miner, were in full flow on Monday. Performances were rehearsed, security drills perfected, usual last-minute changes accommodated. The typical clamour for passes and VIP accommodation reverberated around each corner.

For now, this hill state will bask in the centre of attention. The broader, trickier questions – of what this all means once the dust settles from the glitz of the Games – are for a later date.