Delhi govt hikes cash award for Olympic winners, to give Group A jobs to gold and silver medallists

Group A jobs would be given to gold and silver medallists, while the bronze winners would be provided Group B jobs.

The Delhi government has hiked the cash awards given to Olympic and Paralympic winners from the Capital, minister Ashish Sood said on Tuesday.

Delhi minister Ashish Sood said that several important decisions have been taken in relation to Delhi's development, for students and for youth. (HT_PRINT)

Sood also announced that Group A jobs would be given to gold and silver medallists, while the bronze winners would be provided Group B jobs, PTI reported.

The decisions were taken during a Cabinet meeting chaired by Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta at the Delhi Secretariat.

Sood said that under the Mukhyamantri Khel Prothsahan Yojana, Olympic and Paralympic gold winners will now be awarded ₹7 crore, silver medallists will be given ₹5 crore and the bronze medallists will get ₹3 crore. He said that this was done to “encourage the sports ecosystem”.

Earlier, the Olympic and Paralympic medal winners were awarded ₹3 crore, ₹2 crore and ₹1 crore.

Addressing a press conference, Sood said that several important decisions were taken in relation to Delhi's development, for students and for youth.

Delhi CM Gupta had announced the free laptops while presenting the Budget for the Capital in March. “1,200 students who have progressed to class 11 from will be given laptops by the government,” Gupta said.

Sood said that 1,200 students who had passed Class 10 exams with good marks would be provided with i7 laptops. “This will benefit students from underprivileged backgrounds,” the minister said.

This comes days after the Delhi home minister accused senior Aam Aadmi Party leaders, including former CM Arvind Kerjriwal and former deputy CM Manish Sisodia, of purchasing luxury mobile phones with public money.

Sood claimed that official records showed that Kejriwal had purchased four iPhones between 2015 and 2022, adding that all of these breached the ₹50,000 purchase cap fixed for the CM.