CM presents Khel Ratna awards to winners
By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 24 Mar: Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami presented ‘Devbhoomi Uttarakhand Khel Ratna Awards’ to badminton player Lakshya Sen for the year 2019-20 and to athlete Chandan Singh for the year 2020-21 at a programme organised by the Sports Department at the new Multipurpose Sports Building at the Parade Ground, here, today.
Badminton coach Dhirendra Kumar Sen, Taekwondo coach Kamlesh Kumar Tiwari for the year 2020-21, and Archery coach Sandeep Kumar Duklan for the year 2021-22 were honoured with the Devbhoomi Uttarakhand Dronacharya Award.
In addition, the Lifetime Achievement Award was awarded to athlete Suresh Chandra Pandey for the year 2021-22 for his remarkable contribution in the field of sports.
On this occasion, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami also honoured 168 national level medal winning players and 42 coaches with cash prizes for the year 2021 and 2022. Cash prizes worth a total amount of Rs 2.08 crores were distributed to the players and coaches at the programme held today.
On this occasion, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said that the young sportspersons of Uttarakhand are bringing laurels to the state and the country by participating in national and international competitions and winning medals. When sportspersons play at the international level, the sentiments of the entire country are attached to them. Dhami added that every possible effort is being made to promote sports in the state. The ‘Chief Minister Udyam Khiladi Unnayan Yojana’ has been started in the state with this purpose. Sports scholarships are being given to 150 boys and 150 girls in each district – 3,900 budding players in all. He said that it has also been decided to reintroduce the sports quota in government jobs. In the new sports policy, efforts have been made to provide all possible facilities to the players.
The CM said that a new, powerful and prosperous India is being built under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. India’s respect is increasing in the field of sports as well, wherever there is a playground in the world, today the Tricolour is seen waving proudly. The Prime Minister has started many new initiatives to promote sports. ‘Khelo India’ programme is the best example of this initiative. Today, sports talents are being promoted at every level country and efforts are being made to provide better training facilities to them. He said that a target has been set to make Uttarakhand the leading state of the country by 2025 and, to achieve this, those working in the field will have to do their best.
Sports Minister Rekha Arya said that, under the leadership of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, the state government has taken many decisions in the field of sports in one year. A new sports policy has been formulated, in which every possible facility is being provided to the players. Traditional sports have also been included in the policy. An amount of Rs 1,500 per month is being given to 3,900 children in the age group of 8 to 14 years of the state under the Mukhyamantri Udiyaman Khiladi Unnayan Yojana. Uttarakhand will host the 38th National Games in 2024.
MLA Khajan Das, Special Principal Secretary, Sports, Abhinav Kumar, Director, Sports, Jitendra Kumar Sonkar were present on the occasion.
