Punjab Sports Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer on July 31 said the new sports policy of the State, which was recently approved by the Cabinet includes several incentives in a bid to create a sports culture in the State .
Mr. Hayer said that starting from the construction of sports nurseries, centres equipped with State-of-the-art facilities will be built in every village of the State under the new policy. Besides, gifts in the form of cash prizes, awards for players as well as coaches and jobs for the players are a part of the new sports policy.
He said that keeping in mind all age groups and physical fitness, playgrounds will be established at the village level according to the local needs. “1,000 cluster-level sports nurseries with coaching, sports equipment and refreshments will be established. At ₹25 lahks per nursery, it will have a total budget of ₹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,” he said.
He said that a provision of 500 posts in the special cadre has been prepared for the best medal-winning players including 40 deputy directors, 92 senior coaches, 138 coaches and 230 junior coaches. He said that compared to 2,017 coaches in neighbouring Haryana, there are only 309 coaches in Punjab and as per the new sports policy there is a proposal of 2,360 coaches, he said.
He said it was also decided to increase the prize money of the Gold, Silver and Bronze medal winners of the Olympic Games from ₹2.25 crore, ₹1.50 crore and ₹1 crore to ₹3 crore, ₹2 crore and ₹1 crore respectively, at a press conference.
He said earlier, about 25 sports and medal winners were getting cash prizes, while now the number has been increased to 80. “It has also been decided to start awards for the first time for coaches and promoters similar to players. The coaches of Punjab will now get the Olympian Balbir Singh Senior Coach Award, which will include prize money of ₹5 lakhs, a trophy and a blazer. Similarly, the Milkha Singh Award for Sports Promoters-Organization is being started for any private organization or individual promoting sports. The prize money will include ₹5 lahks, a memento, a blazer and a certificate,” he said.
