Haryana, April 25:  The Haryana athletes who brought victory to the state in the Commonwealth Games (CWG) have expressed their disappointment over the state government's move to reduce award money to medalists. Protesting against the move, athletes Neeraj Chopra, Manoj Kumar, Vinesh Phogat, and Bajrang Punia have decided to boycott the ceremony to honour Gold Coast CWG athletes organised by the state government in Panchkula on April 26.

According to a news report in Times of India, Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra said that if senior players feel injustice is being done, then he will follow them. “They are senior and are taking the right decision of boycotting the ceremony,” he added.

According to Haryana’s sports policy, a CWG gold medalist gets Rs. 1.5 crore, a silver medalist is given a cash price of Rs. 75 lakh and a bronze medalist is rewarded with Rs. 50 lakh. However, the state government has recently remarked that in case of athletes who represent institutions such as the 'Army' or 'Railways' and are given cash prizes by them, the Haryana government would deduct the amount given by the institution from their stated sum. So, if an athlete from Haryana, who represents the Railways, is given Rs. 50 lakh by the Railways, the government would deduct Rs. 50 lakh from its own prize money of Rs. 1.5 crore to that athlete, that means they would get Rs. 1 crore instead of Rs. 1.5 crore as award money.

Further reacting to the state government’s move boxer Manoj Kumar, a bronze medalist said, “No other government has taken this step before. This government has not provided jobs and now they are reducing prize money as well. This is like charging Good and Services Tax (GST) on the players.” Sakshi Malik, who became the first woman wrestler to win a bronze medal for India in Rio Olympics 2017, also criticised the Haryana government for same. To recall, a similar attitude was adopted by the state government for Mailk, wherein she was found bashing the government for not fulfilling their promise. "Medal ka vada maine pura kiya, Haryana sarkar apnaa vada kab puraa karegi? (I fulfilled my promise of winning an Olympic medal for the country, when will Haryana government fulfill its promise?)," tweeted Sakshi.

 She also alleged in her earlier tweets: "Announcements made by Haryana Government after my Olympic medal win was for media only?"

 Now with this fresh controversy, the Haryana government has once again disappointed the CWG athletes. However, Ashok Khemka the Principal Secretary in the Department of Sports and Youth Affairs stated, “As per the previous sports policy, only the players who are domiciled in Haryana and played for the state were eligible for the prize money. But this time a decision was taken to include those who are domiciled in Haryana but have sought jobs in other organisations under sports quota. I don’t understand why they are boycotting the ceremony.”

 According to the state sports policy, every CWG gold medal winner is entitled to a Class A job, silver medal winner for Class B job and bronze medal winner for Class C job in the Haryana government.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 25, 2018 01:05 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).