Imphal: Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh announced an increase in incentives for medal winners of the Commonwealth Games (CWG) and National Games during a felicitation ceremony for the medal winners and participants of the 36th National Games in Gujarat and the 2nd North East Olympic Games in Shillong on Tuesday.
The ceremony was held at Khuman Lampak Sports Complex in Imphal.
The CM informed that the incentives for gold medalists at the Commonwealth Games will be increased from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 20 lakh. Silver medalists will also see an increase, with their incentives rising from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh. In addition, all participants in the games will receive an incentive of Rs 4 lakh.
Regarding the National Games, he announced that incentives for individual players winning a gold medal will be increased from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh, for silver medallists from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 3 lakh and for bronze medallists from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh.
For the team, the incentives for gold, silver and bronze medals will be increased to Rs 15 lakh, Rs 10 lakh and Rs 5 lakh, respectively, he added.
In addition to these increases, the Chief Minister also announced an increase in incentives for coaches, with gold medal coaches seeing their incentives increase from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 7 lakh, silver medal coaches seeing their incentives increase from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh, and bronze medal coaches seeing their incentives increase from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 3 lakh.
He further assured that the government will take up necessary actions in consultation with the Youth and Affairs Ministers for implementation of the same at the earliest.
The CM maintained that the objective of the state government was to create opportunities and provide support for its citizens. The CM stated that the government is focused on developing infrastructure in various sectors, including sports, in order to foster a culture of achievement and excellence.
Biren also stated the government has initiated the process of increasing the sitting capacity of the gallery of Khuman Lampak Main Stadium to around 70,000. He deliberated on the plan to construct a Stadium with a crowd capacity of 1 lakh and mentioned the identification of land measuring 50 acres in the Imphal West district for the same.
He further informed that the Manipur Olympian Park which is being developed at Sangaithel would be inaugurated soon and Union Home Minister Amit Shah had been invited to inaugurate it. He spoke on the Chief Minister’s Akhannaba Sanaroisingi Tengbang (CMAST) scheme launched for the welfare of the state’s sportsperson.
The Chief Minister urged young athletes of the state not just to aim for getting a government job after winning medals in national events, but rather aim for the Olympic Games. He added that the government would also discuss matters relating to providing jobs to gold medal-winning players at the national level.
Youth Affairs and Sports (YAS) minister Govindas Konthoujam, while addressing the gathering, stated that games and sports are the fields which has made Manipur known to the world and added that the people of the state are privileged to have N Biren Singh as chief minister, who has always taken up many initiatives to develop the sports sector in the state. He continued that the state government had initiated work to upgrade the Khuman Lampak Complex to a world-class standard.
The minister further mentioned that the government has been putting efforts to develop sports infrastructure so that the state’s players can avail the same facilities as players of other big states do. He stressed the need for cooperation amongst different associations related to games and sports in increasing the number of medals at national and international events. He also spoke on the importance of selecting the right and prospective players for participating in national and international level games. He extended his best wishes to sports players of the State in their future endeavours.
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President, of Manipur Olympic Association and MLA of Heirok AC Thokchom Radheshyam stressed the need for sportspersons to be passionate to win medals and added the importance of collaboration and not competition amongst different associations to achieve progress in the field of games and sports.
He lauded the achievement of young and talented athletes of the State who are trained in fewer infrastructure facilities. He also spoke on the need to support our local players as we support famous footballers during the recent FIFA Football World Cup, to motivate them to bring more laurels for the State.
During the programme, the CM felicitated medal winners and participants of the 36th National Games-2022, Gujarat and 2nd North East Olympic Games-2022, Shillong. Cash rewards of Rs 10,000, Rs 7,000 and Rs 5000 were given to gold, silver and bronze medal winners of the 36th National Games 2022, Gujarat. Further, a cash reward of Rs 10,000 was given to the Associations of 18 disciplines which participated in the 2nd North East Olympic Games 2022, Shillong.
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