The 2025 edition of Kila Raipur Games kicked off on Friday even as some of the last edition’s winners continue to await their reward money.
“I keep getting calls from many of the participants from last year’s games regarding the rewards. Many even stopped trying after some time,” said colonel Surinder Grewal (retd), the president of Kila Raipur Sports Society (Patti Suhaviyan).
Before the government intervention increased in the games last year, the games were organised by the Kila Raipur Sports Society.
Grewal said the body spent around ₹47,000 in renting the area around the ground for parking, other arrangements and repairing the damaged caused after the event. He said that the administration had promised that they would reimburse the amount, but nothing was done.
Kaur Singh, who organises the tri-cycle race in the games, claimed none of winners from last year got the prize money. “We were assured a couple of times, but we got nothing,” he said.
Additional deputy commissioner (ADC) Amarjeet Singh Bains said complaints were lodged by some participants regarding non-payment of reward amounts. He said the administration had made the payments and pointed to banking issues.
“We received such complaints. And after getting the matter investigated, we found that there were problems with the bank account details given by the participants,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“We received such complaints. And after getting the matter investigated, we found that there were problems with the bank account details given by the participants,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) Jasleen Kaur Bhullar, who is the nodal officer for the games, confirmed the issue.
She, however, said the payments for most of the participants were cleared and only a few cases, where account details were found to be wrong, were pending.