Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar today gave away cash awards amounting to over Rs 53 crore to 158 outstanding sportspersons of the state and announced a bonanza of incentives for players of Haryana.
Presiding over a felicitation ceremony of medal winning players of Haryana here, he also announced that benefit of reservation in recruitments to be made through Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC) would be given to outstanding sportspersons of the state who win medals in international events.
This benefit of reservation would be on the pattern of Haryana Staff Selection Commission, he said.
Also, a national level wrestling competition would be organised on the occasion of Golden Jubilee of the state during the year 2016-17 and cash prize of Rs one crore would be awarded to 'Bharat Kesari'.
A sum of Rs 40 crore was given to 36 medal winners of the 17th Asian Games held in South Korea during 2014 and 33 participating players were awarded cash prizes worth Rs 1.65 crore. Apart from this, cash prizes to the tune of Rs 8.50 crore were given away to eight medal winners in Para-Asian Games and Rs 55 lakh to 11 participants.
Also, cash prizes of Rs 90 lakh were given away to 28 medal winners at international level during the year 2013-14 and over Rs 1.5 crore to 42 participants in sports competitions of international level during the year 2014-15.
The chief minister said that with a view to promote the sport, a Kabbadi competition would also be organised in the state and its winners would be honoured appropriately.
Speaking on the occasion, Sports and Youth affairs Minister Anil Vij said that academies and nurseries were being set up in the state to promote sports among youth.
"The government is making a provision of providing insurance facility for sports persons. Also, there is a plan to provide pension to players. The Sports and Youth Affairs Department has been compiling data of all players digitally and probably Haryana would be the first such state to have digital data of players," he said.
He said that today about Rs 55 crore have been awarded to the outstanding players.
