Early Times Report
JAMMU, Dec 26: It is high time for the Jammu and Kashmir government to take lead from the states focusing especially on sports particularly Haryana, to revamp overall structure across the Union Territory.
Although sports infrastructure is coming up in parts of Jammu and Kashmir and many initiatives are being taken by the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha headed administration but still the boom needed in the field of sports is missing in the region having no dearth of talent.
In one of the recent examples, neighbouring State Haryana has announced special monthly honorarium for various sports awardees, which is a distant dream for the players and sportspersons of Jammu and Kashmir.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has announced to increase honorarium for Arjuna, Dronacharya and Dhayan Chand award winners from Rs 5,000 to Rs 20,000 per month.
Haryana Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Sandeep Singh has said that 80 players have received the Arjuna award in the state and 15 coaches have received the Dronacharya award, while nine players have been honoured with Dhyan Chand award.
All of them will be given an amount of Rs 20,000 each per month, he said. The winners of the adventure award given by the central government will also receive Rs 20,000 honorarium.
The chief minister also increased the amount given to the Bhima award winners. The awardees were given Rs 5 lakh at the time they were awarded and now they will receive Rs 5,000 per month allowance. The Haryana government has honoured 130 sportspersons with Bhima award.
"What else could be better than this in a state like Haryana, already promoting sports, has a former Indian hockey player, Sandeep Singh as a Sports and Youth Affairs Minister. And I feel that he can understand the pulse of sportspersons in a much better way," a player expressed.
Talking to UNI, a veteran sports person said, "states like Punjab, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Bihar, Rajasthan, all have exclusive budgets worth crores for sports development and promotion but J&K has yet miles to go to achieve that goal."
"J&K Government can also focus on the similar pattern and announce monthly honorarium for international, national and state awardees at least to boost them and double the efficiency of the fraternity," he added.
"It is high time now, Jammu and Kashmir must revamp the structure in the betterment of sports and sportspersons," he said adding, "years have passed but we do not have any sports policy so far."
"No doubt infrastructure is coming up but who will be giving services as we have shortage of coaches across the Union Territory," said a footballer adding, "programmes like 'Khelo India' and 'Fit India Movement' are initiated by the Government of India and talent in bulk was seen participating in different games and sports."
"We have many qualified and talented stuff and their services can be utilized at their respective places by giving them monthly honorarium," he added.
"Many states have career options in sports field but ironically, we stand nowhere due to which, youth in Jammu and Kashmir is inclined more towards government jobs or other private sectors than opting sports career," said a retired employee of J&K Sports Council.
He said, "BCCI is one of the richest sports bodies and gives monthly pension to former cricketers including those who have played at domestic level but we do not take care of our players, coaches, mentors, who are shaping the future of the country."
"We must give special attention to sports, and have a special budget every year so that a boom can be seen in this field," he maintained.
He said, "many sports associations are either headed or run by non sports persons in Jammu and Kashmir and this seems to be one of the major reasons that players do not get the projection." |
