Govt to set up sports varsity at Patiala village: Minister

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, July 16

To boost the sports in the state, the Punjab Government has decided to establish an international-level sports university at Sidhupur village in Patiala. The state government is taking technical assistance for this university which will come up over about 100 acres. The assistance in this regard would be taken from Loughborough University in England.

Sharing information about this new university here on Tuesday, Sports, Youth Affairs and NRI Affairs Minister Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi said the academic session of the sports university would commence from the month of September.

Sodhi, who is also the Chairman of the District Grievances Redressal Committee, Faridkot, was in town on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the committee.

The state government has introduced a new sports policy to promote sport activities in the state and provide more sports facilities to the youth. Besides, it will strengthen sports infrastructure of the state and welfare of the players who bring laurels the state, he said.

The minister said the new sports policy, formed by the state government, was players-friendly and there was a firm commitment of the state government to make available all sorts of facilities at the disposal of the players. The minister said the state government had commenced the tradition of honouring sportspersons with Maharaja Ranjit Singh awards, which were not given in the past few years. The award ceremony was held recently in which 100 eminent players who had won medals at the national and international levels were given Rs 2 lakh as prize money. The Chief Minister has decided to enhance the prize money to Rs 5 lakh from the next time onwards.

Sodhi said in the new sports policy, 3 per cent jobs had been reserved for players in each department. Apart from this, the cash prize money for players winning the gold medal at the Commonwealth and Asian Games had been enhanced to Rs 1 crore, while Rs 75 lakh would be given to the silver medal winners and Rs 50 lakh to the bronze medal winners.