Raipur. On National Sports Day, Chief Minister Vishnu Dev Sai announced a prize money of Rs. 3 crore for players of Chhattisgarh who won gold medal in Olympics, Rs. 2 crore for players who won silver medal and Rs. 1 crore for players who won bronze medal. He awarded 502 talented players of various sports disciplines in the State Sports Decoration Ceremony organized at Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Auditorium and distributed Rs. 1 crore 36 lakh to them. On this occasion, Chief Minister Sai also honored the family members of the martyrs by presenting them shawls and coconuts. The program was presided over by Vidhan Sabha Speaker Dr. Raman Singh.
While addressing the program, Chief Minister Sai said that despite having the highest honour in the field of sports, it is painful that the State Sports Decoration Ceremony was not organized in the state in the last five years. Feeling the pain of the players, it was decided to organize the State Sports Decoration Ceremony again. The first decoration ceremony was organized on 14 March this year. Today, on the occasion of Sports Day, players are again being honored with sports decorations.
The Chief Minister said that recently in the Paris Olympics, players like Neeraj Chopra, Manu Bhaker, Sarabjot Singh, Swapnil Kusale, Aman Sehrawat brought glory to Mother India by winning medals. We are also committed to taking sports talents forward in Chhattisgarh. In the coming days, sports talents will be enhanced through good infrastructure and training so that our players can play even better at the international level and raise the flag of their talent in the world.
Sai said that along with the Integrated Sports Complex at a cost of Rs 105 crore in Jashpur and Raigarh, a multipurpose indoor stadium and synthetic football ground with running track is being built in Nava Raipur at a cost of Rs 62 crore. For the first time after the formation of the state, a residential hockey academy has started in Raipur in the month of August this year. A residential football academy for girls will start from the month of September. Along with this, Athletic Academy, Kabaddi Academy and Archery Academy are also being run. An off-centre of Lakshmi Bai National Institute of Physical Education will also be started in Raipur, which will be a big achievement of the state in the field of sports. All of you should work hard to hone your sports talent and bring glory to Chhattisgarh at the national and international level.
Chhattisgarh Assembly Speaker Dr. Raman Singh said that young players have struggled a lot for this honour. The organisation of this award was stopped by the previous government. This Khel Alankaran Samman has been started again by our government. He said that our government is committed to promote sports activities in the state and provide every possible help to the players.
The Union Minister of State for Housing and Urban Development said that Union Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has agreed regarding the new complexes of Khelo India and promotion of sports infrastructure. To promote sports in the state, it has been decided to start the “Krida Protsahan Yojana” in Chhattisgarh. Under this scheme, along with the upgradation of sports grounds, arrangements for high-level sports equipment for players, discovery of sports talents, financial assistance to sports clubs and organization of traditional sports competitions will be done. Under the Khelo India scheme, multipurpose halls have been constructed in Raipur and Bilaspur and a synthetic athletic track in Balodabazar.
Sports and Youth Welfare Minister Tank Ram Verma said that a favorable environment is being created for sports and players in the state. The government has organized the Khel Abhiyan ceremony twice in the same year to honor and decorate talented players. Construction of sports infrastructure, establishment of residential sports academy and Khelo India Center will provide better opportunities to sports and players in the state. Along with the appointment of sports trainers, vacant posts will be filled in the sports department. MP Brijmohan Agarwal also addressed the program.
It is noteworthy that for the year 2021-22, 06 players were honored for Shaheed Rajiv Pandey Award, 06 for Shaheed Kaushal Yadav Award, 02 for Veer Hanuman Singh Award, 11 for Shaheed Pankaj Vikram Samman, 05 for Shaheed Vinod Choubey Samman and 11 players were honored for Chief Minister Trophy. Similarly, for the year 2022-23, 04 players were honored for Shaheed Rajiv Pandey Award, 07 for Shaheed Kaushal Yadav Award, 01 for Veer Hanuman Singh Award, 15 for Shaheed Pankaj Vikram Samman, 05 for Shaheed Vinod Choubey Samman and 24 selected players were honored with trophies for Chief Minister Trophy. For the award year 2021-22 and 2022-23, 97 awardee players were given prize money of Rs 76 lakh, Rs 60.33 lakh went to the bank accounts of 502 medal winning players and the players got Rs 01 crore 36 lakh 33 thousand.
Industry Minister Lakhan Lal Devangan, Food Minister Dayal Das Baghel, Agriculture Minister Ramvichar Netam, Health Minister Shyam Bihari Jaiswal, Raipur MP Brijmohan Agarwal, MLAs Sarv Sampat Agarwal, Purandar Mishra, Guru Khuswant Saheb, Pranav Marpachchi, Moti Lal Sahu, Anuj Sharma, Indra Kumar Sahu, Secretary Sports Youth Welfare Department Himshikhar Gupta, Sports Director Tanuja Salam and players were present in the program.