Chandigarh, Feb 23 Congress MLA from Kaithal, Aditya Surjewala, on Monday alleged that the data presented by the Haryana government in the state Assembly exposes serious negligence towards the state's athletes and coaches.
He pointed out that a large number of pending applications for cash awards, scholarships, and sports quota jobs from 2019 to 2025 have raised serious questions.
During the Question Hour, he questioned the total number of applications received, approved, and currently pending under the Cash Award Scheme and the scholarship scheme from eligible athletes and coaches from 2019 to date.
Sports Minister Gaurav Gautam stated that the pendency of applications is due to reasons such as delays in document processing.
Gaurav Gautam further stated that all pending cash rewards up to December 31, 2022, for eligible Haryana athletes who participated in national and international competitions have been fully disbursed.
He also announced that cash rewards for medal winners of the Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, and National Games for the years 2023, 2024, and 2025 have also been distributed without delay. The remaining cash rewards for 2023, 2024, and 2025 will be released to eligible athletes shortly.
Meanwhile, in a statement, Surjewala stated that according to government figures, a total of 11,489 applications were received from 2019, out of which only 6,987 were approved.
He added that a large number of the remaining applications were rejected, and 1,361 applications remain pending. The situation is even worse in the scholarship scheme, with a total of 26,408 applications, only 16,415 were approved, and 2,209 remain pending.
He further stated that in 2023, 370 applications were pending, which rose to 684 in 2024, and 307 applications are still unresolved in 2025.
Surjewala also questioned why awards and scholarships for Haryana's players, who are winning medals at international and national levels, are not being disbursed on time.
He further claimed that the situation with sports quota jobs is even more deplorable. Under the Outstanding Sports Persons (OSP) and Eligible Sports Persons (ESP) quotas, only one appointment has been made in Group A since April 2021.
He emphasized that OSP and ESP rules clearly state that medal winners at national and international levels are eligible for jobs in Group A and Group B.
He expressed concern that numerous players who have brought glory to the state and country in events like the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, and Olympics are not being given opportunities in Group A and Group B positions.
Furthermore, in his statement, Surjewala alleged that departmental processes are extremely slow or there is a serious shortfall in budget management.
He added that applications pending for two years are breaking the morale of players.
Meanwhile, regarding coaches' awards, Minister Gautam said that a total of 52 applications were received, out of which 31 eligible coaches have been granted awards amounting to Rs. 3.56 crore in total.
Gaurav Gautam further stated that eligible student-athletes in Haryana are awarded scholarships upon completion of their respective academic session.
He said that scholarships have been released up to the 2023-24 session, and the scrutiny for the 2024-25 session is in its final stage and will be completed soon.
He added that from 2019 to 2023-24, a total of 14,306 players have been given scholarships amounting to Rs 44.74 crore.
Additionally, from July 1, 2024, the government has launched an online portal to ensure the timely and smooth disbursement of cash rewards to eligible athletes.
The Minister said that cash rewards are provided on an annual basis, not monthly. Since 2019, a total of 8,234 players have been awarded cash rewards amounting to Rs 491.22 crore.
