Day after increasing rewards, Hooda honours CWG medallists

The gold medal winners in wrestling, Sushil Kumar, Yogeshwar Dutt, Babita Kumari, Amit Kumar and Vinesh Phogat were given cheques of Rs 1 crore each and a cheque of Rs 62.50 lakh was given to Gagan Narang.

Cheques amounting to Rs 50 lakh each were given to silver medal winners in wrestling — Sakshi Malik, Lalita, Satyvrat Kadiyan, Bajrang and Geetika Jakhar. Same amount was given to Sanjeev Rajput, Anisha Sayyad, Gurpal Singh, Harpreet Singh for shooting, Vijender Singh and Mandeep Jangra for boxing, Sardar Singh for hockey and Seema Punia for athletics. Bronze medal winners Pawan Kumar for wrestling and Pinki Rani for boxing were given Rs 25 lakh each.

Vikas Gulia, Om Parkash, Krishna Punia, Manoj Kumar, Sumit Sangwan, Parveen Kumar, Pooja Rani, Manjeet Nandal, Vikender Singh, Prikshit Kumar, Grima Chaudhary, Jeena Devi, Ankur Mittal, Meena Kumari, Aarti Singh Rao, Jaspreet Kaur, Deepika, Poonam Rani, Ritu Rani, Rani Rampal, Savita Punia and Navjot Kaur received cheques worth Rs 5 lakh for participating in the event.

Speaking on the occasion, Hooda said, “While the population of Haryana is only 2 per cent of the total population of the country yet of the total 64 CWG medals, 33 medals have been won by players from Haryana. Earlier too, Haryana players had won one-third of the total medals won by India in the CWG and Asian Games.”

Hooda also laid a foundation stone of Dr B R Ambedkar Law University in Rajiv Gandhi Education City. “The state government would give a grant of Rs 119 crore for setting up the university that would attract students from all over the country.”

‘73 % Punjab youth take drug’

While honouring players from Haryana who have done well in Glasgow, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Friday said that 73 per cent of youth in Punjab is under the influence of drugs.

He said, “We have drawn the youth towards sports by introducing SPAT scheme. Rural stadia have been constructed in every big village and the policy of ‘Padak Lao Pad Pao’ has been introduced to increase the interest of youth in sports. While the youth of Haryana is getting drawn towards sports, 73 per cent of the youth in Punjab is under the influence of drugs.” ENS