Sportspersons await cash awards

Deepankar Sharda

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 23

The UT Sports Department has failed to release a single penny of awards declared for meritorious sportspersons in 2015.

The decision was taken to prevent the local sportspersons from shifting to neighbouring states that offer higher prize money.

It was announced that city players, who participate in Olympic Games, Hockey World Cup, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, Youth Olympic Games, Youth Asian Games, Youth Commonwealth Games and Afro-Asian Games, would be awarded higher amount than Punjab or Haryana on the day of achieving any position or participation.

It was further announced that achievements in various events, including mountain climbing, trekking to the North/South Pole and many other activities of equal stature, would be considered for a cash reward on a case-to-case basis with the approval of the Adviser to the Administrator-cum-president of the Chandigarh Sports Council. For an Olympic gold, the cash prize was increased from Rs5 lakh to Rs6 crore and for national championships, the cash incentive for a gold medal was increased from Rs20,000 to Rs2 lakh.

“I had applied in 2017 and waiting for the reward till date. Had it been some other state, this could have been one of the biggest lapses on the part of the authorities. The announcement was made in 2015 and was implemented in the same year. The following year, players started applying for it, but no one received anything from the authorities,” said a local sportsperson.

It was also announced that the local coaches, who did well at the international level, would get Rs1 lakh, Rs75,000 and Rs50,000 for gold, silver and bronze medal, respectively. The coaches performing well at the national level were to be awarded with Rs50,000, Rs30,000 and Rs20,000 for attaining the first three positions, respectively. Besides, the department also announced cash prizes to the players playing special, masters and paragames.

“Since there has been no sports policy for Chandigarh, the only way to encourage coaches is with such kinds of cash awards. But the UT Administration fails even at this front. It’s been nearly two decades that the local coaches have been asking for a way to get promotions, but there’s no ray of hope. If the players were to be awarded on a par with Haryana and Punjab, it should have been approved first,” said a coach.

Sources said more than 12 sportspersons had applied under this programme.

A meeting of the executive committee of the Chandigarh Sports Council was held today. Sources said the matter to award players under the scheme was deferred by the panel. It had been proposed to consider and approach the Centre before taking a final call.