Arvind Kejriwal honours Asiad medal winners from city

New Delhi: Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday felicitated 11 sportspersons from Delhi who won medals at the recently concluded Asian Games at Jakarta.  

“All of you have made the country and Delhi proud along with your families. Some of you struggled in difficult circumstances, you faced lack of resources and finances, your effort is remarkable and really appreciable,” the chief minister said at the event at the Delhi Secretariat.

“All of you are a source of inspiration for budding sportspersons since children find it almost an impossible feat to win medals at Asian Games. We would like you to visit schools and encourage children to follow your path,” he said.

Kejriwal also announced that the Delhi government has last week amended its policy and substantially enhanced the cash incentives for medal winners at international events. He said gold medal winners at the Asian Games will now be given Rs 1 crore by the Delhi government instead of Rs 20 lakh which they were getting earlier.  

Similarly, silver medal winners at the Asian Games will now get Rs 75 lakh in place of Rs 14 lakh and Bronze medal winners will get Rs 50 lakh in place of Rs 10 lakh.  The Delhi government has also doubled the cash incentive for trainers of medal winners from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 6 lakh.  

The chief minister also announced that the Delhi government will soon be implementing two sports policies. The first policy will be called Play and Progress. For effective im-plementation of this policy, a committee of experts will be set up.