Haryana Cooperation Minister, Banwari Lal said that besides leading in the agriculture sector, Haryana has now become a sports hub due to the outstanding achievements of sports persons in the last 8 years under the visionary leadership of Chief Minister, Manohar Lal. This has only been possible due to the sports policy of the state government. Such sports infrastructure and platform has been created in the state that the sportspersons of Haryana are continuously bringing laurels to the country and the state.
The Cooperative Minister was speaking as the chief guest at the closing ceremony of the ongoing annual sports meet at Jain Public School, Rewari today. He said that due to the new sports policy and modern infrastructure provided by the Haryana Government, the players of the state are setting the image of Haryana in the world. Today, Haryana has created a unique identity in the sports field. Sports nurseries are being established in the state by the government with the aim of popularizing the sports culture among the children at the grass root level.
The Cooperation Minister said that the present state government is giving maximum prize money to the winners to boost their morale. In the Olympic Games, a cash prize of Rs. 6 crore is given to the gold medal winner, Rs. 4 crore to the silver medal winner and Rs 2.50 crore to the bronze medal winner. Haryana is giving same cash awards to the medal winners of Paralympic at par with those who fetch top honours in the Olympics. Apart from this, a provision has also been made to give Rs 15 lakh to each participating player. After getting selected in the Olympic Games, the Haryana government has taken the initiative of giving an advance amount of Rs 5 lakh to the sportsperson for preparation, which is not available in
any other state.
A provision of Rs 600 crore has been made for the sports department in the state budget and an amount of Rs 526 crore was spent on sports facilities in the
state, he said.
He said that 550 new posts have been created for the youth in the department, while 190 sportspersons have been given jobs, he said.