Govt takes three years to give cash awards to sportspersons

Archit Watts

Tribune News Service

Malout, November 16

It sounds strange but true. It took three years for the state government to distribute cash awards among sportspersons for their state, national and international-level achievements.

The Sports Department on Thursday distributed cash awards of nearly Rs 2.48 crore among 786 sportspersons of the state at a function held in Mohali.

It included Rs 4.96 lakh given to 21 sportspersons of Muktsar district.

Interestingly, the state government is also yet to give Maharaja Ranjit Singh Award to sportspersons for the past six years. As per the state sports policy, maximum 15 sportspersons are conferred with this prestigious award every year.

It consists of a trophy of Maharaja Ranjit Singh honouree citation and Rs 1 lakh cash award.

Amrit Kaur Gill, Director, Sports Department, Punjab, said, “The cash awards for 2015-16 were distributed yesterday. Now, we are in process to distribute Maharaja Ranjit Singh Award for the past six years. Thereafter, we will distribute the cash awards for the year 2016-17 and onwards.”

When asked about the reason behind such inordinate delay, she said, “I can’t make any comment in this regard. But the present state government is trying to clear the backlog of the past few years.”

About Maharaja Ranjit Singh Award, she said the apex committee headed by Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh would hold a meeting soon and finalise it. Speaking about the cash awards for the year 2016-17, she said that the applications were sought from the sportspersons and the scrutiny was underway.

Meanwhile, Anindervir Kaur Brar, District Sports Officer, Muktsar, said the sportspersons were thankful to Sports Minister Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi for honouring them with cash awards.