GUWAHATI: Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal distributed annual grants-in-aid among district sports associations and state sports associations affiliated to the Assam Olympic Association (AOA) through a video conference here on Thursday.
An amount of Rs 34,800 each was distributed to 25 district sports associations and Rs 72,752 each was distributed to 29 state sports associations.
Speaking on the occasion, Sonowal, who is also the president of AOA, said that the state was going through a very difficult phase with the COVID-19 pandemic, flood, erosion, storm, landslide, Baghjan oil well fire to tackle at the same time.
He urged the sports associations to slowly revive sports in the state along with keeping the sportspersons of the state motivated during these difficult times.
Along with sports activities, the chief minister also appealed to the sports associations to volunteer in flood relief and rehabilitation activities carried out by the state government as it is the moral responsibility of each section of the society to help in overcoming the challenges.
Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to restart economic activities in parallel to fight against COVID-19, Sonowal appealed to the sports associations to take up the initiatives to spot, nurture and grow sports talent at the grassroots for bringing laurels to Assam.
He also stressed on the need to tie-up with corporate houses to sponsor sportspersons and build sports infrastructure.
It is to be mentioned that the Assam Olympic Association released Rs 1.24 crore to successful players, Rs 60 lakh to medal winners in the 2016 South Asian Games and Rs 40 lakh as sports scholarships during the lockdown period under state sports policy.
Besides, 76 players who participated in the Khelo India Youth Games were financially rewarded for a total expenditure of Rs 73 lakh.
