The Meghalaya government’s Sports Policy and investment in infrastructure will pay rich dividends in coming years, with Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma predicting that the state will produce a number of international champions in a variety of disciplines.
Sangma said this here today during a hastily called for felicitation programme to honour Meghalaya armwrestlers and bodybuilders who recently won accolades at international competitions. Neither sport is an Olympic or even National Games discipline but that did not stop the government from lavishing the participants with cash rewards, which may take away the sting of Meghalaya not winning a single medal at the recent National Games.
Sangma was the chief guest at the function, which included Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Banteidor Lyngdoh and Meghalaya State Olympic Association Working President John F Kharshiing, among others.
The Chief Minister said that the government is working with the right intentions to nurture and support sportspersons through various interventions and create the right ecosystem for their growth to compete at the national as well as international levels.
“With the proper strategy and planning, we are confident that all the investments that we have been making today will bear some fruits and results in the days to come. Things just don’t happen because we want it to happen, you need strategy, you need a policy and you need a system in place to achieve it,” he said.
Sangma added that the formulation of the Sports Policy and the youth policy has provided the blueprint and given direction to develop sports in the state. The other side of the coin is infrastructure and, in this vein, the Meghalaya government has budgeted Rs 500 crore for such development throughout the state.
“We may have all the policies, we may have the right system in place but if we don’t have the infrastructure to help and allow athletes and sportspersons to practice then things fall flat and, hence, a comprehensive plan and strategy has been developed to provide better state of the art facilities in the state,” he said.
Nearly Rs 12.5 lakh was distributed to the athletes who were present at the function today. Gold medallist armwrestlers Margaret Pathaw was awarded Rs 5 lakh alone.
Sangma stated that it was utterly embarrassing and sad that at one point of time a gold medalist at the National Games would receive a mere Rs 7,500 as cash incentive by previous governments.
“It is just sad and it’s unfair. Other states like Haryana give about Rs 2 crore, Manipur and others give about Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore and we were stuck with Rs 7,500 rupees. We realised that that needs to be changed. So we were made to understand from all these different associations that recognition in a small way is absolutely necessary to build up the confidence and motivate them to do even better and also become idols or become stars so that other youngsters can then look at them and want to be like them,” Sangma said.
