OREANDA-NEWS. Tata Power Community Development Trust, in partnership with Abhi Foundation, organised Mahul Sports Mahotsav 2013 at Mahul Maidan. The event was organised on a grand scale specially for the parents and elders of the village. The event included various sports initiatives and cultural programmes organised by the boy and girl trainees of the foundation.

The unique part of the event was that such an event only for the parents and village elders was organised for the first time in the village and the entire management of the event was solely placed on the shoulders of the trainees of the foundation.

The trainees managed all aspects of the event like printing the entry forms, invitation cards, food coupons, obtaining police permission, mandap decorations, lighting, games organisation and other requirements. The event area was also cleaned up by them and games like women's football, penalty strokes in hockey and other events were organised. Stage management, compering and small skits were all managed by these trainees who felt extremely proud of their achievements while the parents participated wholeheartedly in different tournament organised and were gustily cheered by everyone.

Speaking on this initiative, Ashok Sethi, chief, operations, Tata Power, said, ‘With this initiative, we hope to empower the youth of Mahul and surrounding villages to grow, evolve and reach greater heights through the power of sports. It was delight to see the children put in such an effort for their parents and the elders of the village. We, at Tata Power, take pride in organising such initiatives that not only benefit such communities but also help in improving the quality of life of our society.’

The entire village participated in the event with full gusto, and apart from cultural programmes, the children also presented a couple of skits to spread the message of cleanliness. Bollywood actor Mukesh Rishi, and former-hockey player Mir Ranjan Negi graced the occasion along with Mr Sethi.

The Tata Power-Abhi Sports Development initiatives in Mahul have scaled up considerably with overwhelming participation of youth as well as their parents. The girls teams from Mahul Catchment area have been participating in various hockey tournaments in the city suburb of Bandra. The girls of Tata Power-Abhi Academy recently participated in the Mt Carmel Rink Hockey and Bandra Hockey League. In future, it is planned that they participate in many more such competitions to give them an exposure to tournaments. Apart from the usual hockey training for girls, Tata Power Sports Development and Abhi Academy have re-introduced training for young boys in Mahul on their frequent requests. Apart from this, the Tata Power- Abhi Sports Development initiative has also undertaken a Swachta Abhiyan campaign at the Mahul Village which was also entirely managed and organised solely by the trainees themselves.