Delhi govt hands over cheques amounting to ₹7.48 crore to 307 sportspersons

Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Thursday distributed cheques worth ₹7

Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Thursday distributed cheques worth ₹7.48 crore among 307 sportspersons as financial assistance, and urged them to make the capital city proud by their achievements in the field of sports.

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Sisodia said the Delhi government is ensuring world-class training as well as nutritional requirement of young sportspersons. “Sports play a crucial role in education. On the one hand, Delhi has been at the top in school games for the past three years. On the other hand, it is receiving accolades for its improved education system. NITI Aayog, a central government agency, ranked Delhi government schools the best in the country. This is a proud achievement for Delhi,” he said.

Sisodia, who also holds the education portfolio, said under the Delhi government’s “Play and Progress” scheme, financial assistance of ₹2 lakh is provided to sportspersons under 14 categories and ₹3 lakh is provided to sportspersons under another 17 categories. “The Delhi government provides assistance of up to ₹16 lakh to talented sportspersons from Delhi. It is chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s dream that every student plays at least one sport, and every talented sportsperson gets all kinds of assistance from the government to excel. That is why the Delhi government is running different schemes to promote sports and prepare sportspersons to win medals,” he said.

Outlining the achievements of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in the field of education, a statement released by the deputy CM’s office said, “The Delhi government has done a lot of work to improve sports infrastructure in the city. There are 17 operational swimming pools under the sports branch and eight are under construction. There are many synthetic athletic tracks, synthetic hockey turfs, archery fields, and other sports facilities that are already operational. Two sports hostels with training facilities have also been sanctioned at the cost of approximately ₹100 crore.”