Give financial aid to all needy sportspersons: Delegation to State Govt
| Date :27-May-2020 |
Sports Reporter :
OPPOSING the move of Maharashtra Government of helping only those sportspersons having BPL cards, played at international level and representing Olympic sport, a delegation comprising various sports associations met Dr Subhash Rewatkar, Deputy Director, Sports and Youth Affairs, Nagpur Division on Tuesday and submitted a memorandum with a request to invite details of other sports and medal winning sportsperson as well for financial aid.
A few days back, District Sports Office had issued a notification seeking details of poor and needy international sportspersons having BPL cards for financial aid from the State Sports Ministry. Sports Minister Sunil Kedar had handed over a cheque of Rs 25,000 to international athlete Jyoti Chavan following which several other needy sportspersons who were unable to arrange two square meals during this lockdown period, approached the department seeking financial help. DSO, Nagpur had asked BPL card holding international sportsperson to mail their details to the Department of Sports and Youth Services, Government of Maharashtra, Pune before May 27.
The delegation, which included members of various sports associations, sports organisers, national and international level players, coaches, physical education teachers, took strong objection to the notification and said there are many other sportspersons who are not BPL card holders and play non-Olympic sport like kabaddi, kho-kho, atya-patya, cricket etc. They, too, are facing starvation and need monetary help. In this period of lockdown forced upon to break the chain of coronavirus, many sportspersons are finding it difficult to make ends meet.
The delegation requested the government to remove the criteria of helping “only BPL card holders”, “international players” and “only Olympic sport” and include all others who have participated in even national meets and won medals. Those who met Dr Rewatkar include Sambhaji Bhonsale (swimming), Padmakar Charmode (Physical Education Teachers’ Association), Sunil Chintalwar (kabaddi), Piyush Ambulkar (Shiv Chhatrapati awardee), Sachin Deshmukh, Sachin Mathne, Raman Khare, Parag Bansole, Saurabh Mohod, Kiran Yadav, Jay Kavishwar, Ankush Ghate, Mangesh Paunikar and others.