Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Sunday promised to review the state’s sports policy to provide Government jobs to young sportspersons like Harmanpreet, who had done Punjab proud with her winning performance in the World Cup cricket.
The Chief Minister also announced Rs 5 lakh cash award for Harmanpreet.
Capt Amarinder, who called up Harmanpreet’s father Harmandar Singh to congratulate him on his daughter’s scintillating performance, said that his Government would initiate steps to change the sports policy to accommodate budding sportspersons in Government jobs, which the erstwhile Badal Government had denied it to the star performer and captain of women cricket team.
Flaying the Akali Government’s blunt dismissal of Harmanpreet’s request for a police job to make both ends meet when she was at the start of her career, the Chief Minister told Harmandar that if his daughter was still keen on a Government job, he would look into a change in the sports policy to provide the same to her.
Capt Amarinder told Harmandar that his Government was committed to the promotion of sports in the State. All steps would be taken to ensure the welfare of sportspersons who were contributing to the state’s glory with their grit and hard work, he added.
Chief Minister lauded Harmanpreet’s score of 171 not out of 115 balls in the World Cup cricket semi-final, thereby becoming the second highest scorer in women cricket and steering India into the finals of world cup.
Capt Amarinder said that Harmanpreet had done the entire country proud with her rare accomplishment in the field of sports and would always be a source of inspiration for young players.
Notably, in 2010-11, when Harmanpreet was in dire need of a job, the then Punjab Government snubbed her application for a job in the Punjab Police.
“We had approached the Punjab Police and requested them to employ her. She had already represented India and was a regular member of the national team. We were told that there is no provision for employment in Punjab Police for female cricketers,” said Harmanpreet’s coach Yadwinder Sodhi.
He stated that at that time, a senior official in Punjab Police had told us that she wasn’t “Harbhajan Singh that we will give her a DSP post. She wasn't even granted the post of an inspector. We even met the Chief Minister, but to no avail”.
Presently, Harmanpreet is an employee of the Western Railways which she got on the recommendation of ace cricketer Sachin Tendulkar.