Three-year CSR project will establish a dedicated academy at Lengpui with a 70-metre range, hostel and training facilities.
AIZAWL (India CSR): NTPC Bongaigaon has committed Rs. 13.28 crore to establish an Archery Academy at Lengpui in Mizoram’s Mamit district, bringing a significant sports infrastructure project to a region with strong sporting aspirations but limited specialist facilities. The three-year Corporate Social Responsibility project will be implemented through the Mizoram State Sports Council (MSSC) and is intended to give young archers access to systematic coaching, modern equipment, regular practice and a clearer route into competitive sport.
The Memorandum of Agreement was signed on October 8 between NTPC Bongaigaon and MSSC, Government of Mizoram. It was signed in the presence of Sports and Youth Services Minister Lalnghinglova Hmar, MSSC Secretary Henry C. Lalrawnkima and NTPC Additional General Manager and Head of Human Resources Amit Kumar Asthana, besides state officials. The agreement establishes the institutional responsibilities of the partners: NTPC Bongaigaon will provide CSR funding and monitor progress, while MSSC will establish, operate and maintain the academy.
The project has a stated cost of Rs. 1,328.11 lakh and an implementation horizon of 36 months. Reports on the agreement say the academy will be developed on 28,864 square metres and will include a 70-metre shooting lane, a dedicated archery range, academic building, hostel, gallery, spectator pavilion, gymnasium, approach roads, fencing, lighting and essential equipment. This configuration suggests an academy envisioned not merely as a training field, but as a campus capable of supporting sustained athlete development.
At the centre of the proposal is talent identification. The academy is expected to draw promising archers from Mizoram and nearby areas, with particular attention to school and college students and emerging athletes. Coaching, technical correction, physical preparation and repeated practice matter profoundly in precision sports such as archery, where progress often depends on access to a safe range, quality equipment and coaches who can refine technique over time. The facility is also expected to prepare athletes for district, state and national competitions.
For Mizoram, the investment is about more than one discipline. The state government has framed the project within its wider sports-development effort, and the academy can add a durable pathway between grassroots participation and high-performance training. Archery has a particular resonance in the state: Mizoram has produced an Olympian in the sport. The new academy cannot guarantee future medals, but it can create the conditions that young athletes need to train seriously, compete regularly and remain engaged with sport through formative years.
NTPC Bongaigaon has signed an agreement with the Mizoram State Sports Council to establish Archery Academy at Lengpui over three years.
From a CSR perspective, the project illustrates how public sector investment can be used to build a long-term community asset. Unlike a one-time event or equipment distribution, an academy requires governance, operations, maintenance and continual programme quality. The agreement assigns MSSC responsibility for operating and maintaining the facility, while NTPC Bongaigaon will conduct periodic reviews and progress assessments. That division offers a framework for accountability, but the project’s social value will depend on how consistently the facilities, coaching and athlete-support systems are managed after construction.
An inclusive academy will also need to ensure that access is not limited to athletes who already have resources or exposure. Transparent selection, safe hostel arrangements, equipment availability, participation by girls and outreach to schools will be important factors in determining whether the academy develops a broad talent base. The project announcement specifically highlights participation by school and college students, which makes its relationship with local educational institutions central to its potential reach. For young athletes outside major urban centres, a specialist academy can reduce some of the barriers that separate potential from opportunity.
NTPC Bongaigaon’s commitment comes as CSR spending by public enterprises increasingly extends beyond basic infrastructure into capacity-building domains such as sports, education, skills and livelihoods. The Lengpui academy combines physical infrastructure with a development objective: to identify, coach and prepare athletes for competitive pathways. Over the next three years, its progress will be watched not only in construction milestones, but also in the quality of its coaching systems, uptake by young archers and the competitive opportunities it creates. If implemented as envisaged, the facility could help strengthen Mizoram’s archery ecosystem and give the Northeast another platform for sporting ambition.
Equally, the academy will test whether a well-governed CSR partnership can convert capital support into a regional institution for young sportspersons across Mizoram.
