Punjab to confer Maharaja Ranjit Singh awards

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, March 3

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Bringing a relief for Punjab players the state Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has approved the names of 82 sportspersons who will be conferred with the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Award, the state’s highest sports honour.

He also approved the proposal to include 12 Padma Shri, Arjuna and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna awardees from the state in this list. According to an official statement, the decision, taken by the Chief Minister while chairing the Award Apex Committee meeting held on Saturday. It has been also decided to  clear the last eight years backlog. However, the government has not announced specific names of the awardees.  

The award carries cash prize of Rs 2 lakh along with a trophy of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The Chief Minister also asked state Sports Minister Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi to find out the modalities for setting up a sports university and review the progress regularly to ensure that the project was completed within the timeframe.

The Chief Minister also gave his consent to flag off the full marathon, dedicated to the 550th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev, on March 31. In a statennet, the Chief Minister said that to upgrade the sports ecosystem by strengthening the infrastructure.  The last two years has been instrumental in nurturing the budding talent. “The new sports policy had provided the much-needed thrust to nurturing budding players,” added Amarinder.