Minister of Sports Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer on Monday announced new incentives for sportsmen in Punjab as he revealed the details of the new sports policy passed by the state Cabinet. The policy aims to make Punjab the number one state for sports in the country and create a sports culture.
The Sports Minister announced gifts in the form of cash prizes, paving the way for awards for players as well as coaches and jobs for the players. Sports nurseries and centres equipped with state-of-the-art facilities are to be built in every village. Meet Hayer said that playgrounds will be established at the village level looking at the local needs. There will be a provision of a one-time matching grant which will be 25 percent of the total budget. At Rs. 25 lakh per nursery, it will have a total budget of Rs. 250 Crore. A district-level sports structure with 200 sports hostels in each district is to be established to prepare sportspersons for National level competitions. There will be a total capacity of 5,000 players across the state.
District-level structures will also be upgraded to state-level. Meet Hayer further said medalists will be provided posts in the special cadre—500 such posts including 40 deputy directors, 92 senior coaches, 138 coaches and 230 junior coaches have been prepare. Compared to 2,017 coaches in Haryana, there are only 309 coaches in Punjab and as per the new sports policy, there is a proposal for 2,360 coaches. Olympians winning the gold, silver and bronze medals will now receive Rs 3 crore, Rs 2 crore and Rs 1 crore respectively. The number of sportspersons or medal winners is now 80 from the earlier 25. This now includes the include Special Olympics, Deaf Olympics, Youth Olympics, Para World Games, badminton’s Thomas Cup, Uber Cup, BWF World Tour Finals, all tennis Grand Slams, Azlan Shah Hockey Cup, Diamond League and recognised international tournaments. For the first time coaches and promoters will also be receiving rewards. Meet Hayer said that the coaches of Punjab will now get the Olympian Balbir Singh Senior Coach Award. Similarly, individuals or organisations promoting sports will receive the Milkha Singh Award for Sports Promoters/Organisation. Additionally, the Balbir Singh Senior Scholarship Scheme has been started for monthly scholarships to national-level medal winners. Senior-level medalists will receive Rs 16,000 while juniors will receive Rs 12,000.
