Punjab Government is all set to launch a new job policy for the sportspersons bringing laurels to the State by registering victories at international sport events.
The announcement was made by the Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal, who also holds a sports portfolio, on Tuesday during a function organised to honour the medalists from the State who have won medals in Incheon Asian Games and Glasgow Commonwealth Games held in 2014.
Sukhbir said that new sports policy will be cleared by the end of this month. “It is aimed at providing jobs to players on the basis of their national and international performance besides fixing incentives for the coaches,” he said.
He said that the new policy would ensure that sportspersons recruited in government services would spend initial 10 years in sports department on deputation to contribute in developing the sports in the State. “This policy will also ensure promotions to the players on the basis of their international performance,” he assured.
Giving details about Punjab Institute of Sports, Sukhbir informed that it will have special directorates for 11 different sports disciplines at SAS Nagar and all recruitments will be done by March 31 next year.“First of this kind Institute would work on the policy of catch-them-young to provide world class coaching, psychologists, diet, training and equipments to the budding sports talent of the state,” he said.
Stressing to enhance outlay for sports in the Union Budget, he said that every fifth person in the world is Indian and “still we are far behind as some smallest countries of the world are getting medals in international competitions”. He said, “I would personally request Prime Minister Narendra Modi for substantial increase in the sports budget so that Indian players could compete at international level.”
Among the awardees are Incheon Asian games gold medalists in athletics Mandeep Kaur Cheema who received Rs26 lakh, Gurpreet Singh in Kabaddi Rs26 lakh, silver medal winner in 20-km walk Khusbeer Kaur (Rs16 lakh), shooter Heena Sidhu in 25 meter Pistol (Rs11 lakh), Gurpreet Singh in rifle shooting (Rs16 lakh), Amandeep Kaur in hockey (Rs11 lakh), Trisha Dev in Archery (Rs11 lakh) and OP Jaisha in Athletics with Rs11 lakh.
Hockey players Dharamveer Singh, Manpreet Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Gurwinder Singh Chandi and Gurbaj Singh were also awarded cash awards of Rs37 lakh each for their achievements in
Incheon Asian and Glasgow Commonwealth games.Glasgow CWG gold medalist and Incheon Asian games bronze medal winner Abhinav Bhindra in air rifle shooting events was handed over Rs38 lakh cash award.