The Punjab government had earlier released an official statement Tuesday stating that cash awards worth Rs 15.10 crore will be given to the Olympic medallists and Olympic participants.
In what seemed to be an attempt to compete with neighbouring Haryana to shower cash awards to the Olympic medal winners and participants, the Punjab government announced cash awards with increased amount of Rs 2.51 crore from Rs 1 crore to the bronze medallists from the state apart from increasing the cash reward to Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Neeraj Chopra to Rs 2.51 crore instead of earlier announced Rs 2 crore on the same day.
The Punjab government had earlier released an official statement Tuesday stating that cash awards worth Rs 15.10 crore will be given to the Olympic medallists and Olympic participants.
But in no time, it released another statement saying that cash awards worth Rs 32.67 crore will be given to the players in the state-level function on August 12.
Interestingly, Haryana government gives a cash award of Rs 2.5 crore to the Olympic bronze medallists and Punjab government’s revised cash award of Rs 2.51 crore for its Olympic bronze medallist hockey players exceeds Haryana by one lakh. Haryana’s cash award of Rs six crore for gold medal winners and Rs four crore for silver medal winner is much bigger than Punjab’s Rs 2.5 crore for gold medal winners and Rs 1.5 crore for silver medal winners as per the present sports policy.
Earlier in June, Rana Gurmit Sodhi, Punjab sports minister, had announced a cash award of Rs 2.5 crore for the gold medal winner, Rs 1.5 crore to silver medal winner and Rs one crore to bronze medal winners from the state and the same was stated in the first statement issued by the Punjab government on Tuesday evening.
“Punjab Chief Minister has also increased the cash award money for the Olympic medallists with a view to further promote sports in the state. Against the earlier announcement of Rs 2 crore, now the gold medal winner Javelin Thrower Neeraj Chopra, who has deep roots in Punjab, would be honoured with an increased amount of Rs 2.51 crore. Similarly, the cash award for the 11 Punjab players, who were part of the bronze medal winning Indian hockey team, has been increased from Rs one crore each to Rs 2.51 crore each,” said Rana Gurmit Sodhi in the second official release issued on Tuesday.
