Assam to offer govt jobs to National Games medal winners

GUWAHATI: Assam will offer a government job to every medal winner from the state in the upcoming National Games in Gujarat. Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma made the announcement on Saturday while appointing lawn bowl player and Commonwealth Games gold medallist, Nayanmoni Saikia, as DSP in the state police. He also handed over a cheque of Rs 50 lakh to Nayanmoni on the occasion.
“If any player from Assam wins gold, bronze or silver in the National Games, our government will immediately offer him/her a government job depending upon the educational qualification of the player,” Sarma said.
The move comes at a time when the Assam government is preparing a comprehensive sports policy, which is likely to be tabled in the April session of the assembly next year.
Conceding that political influence during the recommendation of names for sports pension in the past might have deprived some deserving players of their due, the CM said efforts are being made by his government to encourage students to take up sports as a career. He said the policy of reservation in government jobs under the sports quota should motivate them.
He also advocated policies for rewarding coaches and sports organisers.
Last year, the state government decided to provide sports pension to the medal winners of Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, Olympics, World Championships and National Games. “Even a pension of Rs 10,000 helps a lot,” he had then said.
In a major boost to sports infrastructure in the state, Sarma said the process of obtaining the approval for building a second mega sports complex in Chandrapur on the city outskirts is on, along with the construction of the Sarusajai Sports Complex here. “We are going to build a state-of-the-art stadium each in Sarusajai, Narengi (near Chandrapur) and Jorhat. Hopefully, the works will be completed in the next three years,” he added.
He said the state government has allocated Rs 50 crore each for the construction of a stadium in 10 districts.