Under fire from various corners over cancellation of state level function to honour sportspersons, Haryana Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Anil Vij on Monday said that prize money of about Rs 90 crore is being deposited in the bank accounts of about 3,000 national and international players of the state.
This process would be completed soon, he said.
The Minister said that a function was planned to be organized on June 24 in Panchkula to honour these outstanding players but during its preparations, it did not appear practical. Thus, instead prize money is being transferred in their accounts, Vij said.
The list included participants and medal winners of National Games, Asian and Para-Asian Games for the year 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19. It also included pending players of senior and junior category, he said.
Vij said that the prize money of players remained pending in the earlier regime which also being given by the present state government. For which, a grand programme was also organized, he added.
The State Government has attracted severe criticism from Congress and Jannayak Janta Party following cancellation of the state level function scheduled to be held on June 24 to honour sportspersons of Haryana. The opposition parties have accused the BJP led State Government of insulting the award winning sportspersons during the past four years of its tenure.
Apart from June 24 event, the State Government had last year cancelled another state level function to felicitate the state's Commonwealth Games medal winners following a possibility of boycott by top athletes over a proposed cut in prize money.
Meanwhile, the Sports Minister also said that the State Government has decided to appoint 27 outstanding players on the post of coach.
These players would soon be issued appointment letters. According to the revised sports policy - 2018, the participants and medal winners of the Commonwealth Games, Rio Paralympic, Special Olympics, Asian Games, Rio Olympic and Asian Paralympic Games have been included in the list of coach, he added.