NEC sanctions due amounts for Chairman's Sports Award
Source: Hueiyen News Service / Rishikesh Wangkhem
Imphal, July 05 2012:
The NEC Chairman's Sports Award for state players who won medals in the 34th National Games held in Jharkhand last year, which is due to be distributed to the players will soon be distributed to the respective winners.
The distribution of Rs 16 lakh cash award to five state archers last month by the North East Council (NEC) under the aegis of Ministry of DoNER had created a chaos among the sports fraternities as cash awards of a total amount of Rs 5.56 crore meant for other players are yet to be distributed.
Mention may be made that Manipur emerged in the second spot in the 34th National Games held in Jharkhand with 48 gold, 37 silver and 33 bronze medals just after Services.
Manipur is getting a lion share in the financial assistance for sports provided by the NEC under the DoNER Ministry in the whole North East India with an amount of around Rs 6 crore.
The reason behind the lion's share of the financial assistance for sports, Manipur gets is the fame of Manipur being the powerhouse of sports in the whole nation.
When YAS Director H Deelip distributed the cash incentives to six archers last month, players of other discipline thronged the Sports Department seeking reason behind the partial distribution of sports award to only archers.
While clarifying the matter, the Director had also told that the state government gets only a partial amount of Rs 16 lakh for the distribution of Chairman's Sports Award and the reason for selecting archers is simply because, Archery comes first among the list of different disciplines of sports in alphabetical order.
He pacified the agitated players after assuring them to distribute the incentives as soon as NEC sanction the amount.
After the incident, the Manipur Olympic Association (MOA) appealed to the NEC to sanction the due amounts at the earliest possible time.
In reply, the NEC had informed MOA on June 27 that they have sanctioned the due amount of Rs 5.56 crore for sports financial assistance.
According to the existing plan, gold medal winners in the Jharkhand National games will get Rs 3 lakh while silver medallists and bronze medallists will get Rs 2 lakh and Rs 1 lakh respectively.
The Department of Youth Affairs and Sports will be distributing the cash awards for players in a grand function soon.
However, the schedule for the function is not finalised yet.
It may be mentioned that as many as 134 players from Manipur who represented other states, Railways and Services won medals in the National Games.
They won 47 gold, 30 silver and 39 bronze medals.