Sportsmen Honored; State Doubles Sports Budget
Patna: Aug. 29, 2007
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Sportsmen Honored
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Photo by Shashi Uttam |
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Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, while participating in an event organized to honor Bihar sportsmen at Sri Krishna Memorial Hall in Patna on Wednesday, said the state government had doubled the budget for sports in Bihar to encourage the young talents at school, college, village, and district levels.
"From its current annual allocation of Rs. 70 lakh, the budget for sports from next fiscal year would be doubled to Rs. 1.4 crore," Kumar said amidst huge applause by the audience and other leaders present on the occasion.
The Chief Minister also honored several sportsmen from Bihar including the renowned athlete Premchand Singh with the Lifetime Achievement award and Rajiv Kumar Singh with the 'Khel Kirti' award.
In his speech, Kumar said the work on Kankarbagh sports complex would begin in a month or two. In an obvious reference to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, the Chief Minister said he knew of one leader who until recently hated cricket but now never tires of talking about it because of some political compulsions.
Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, in his speech, said that by making the Shahrukh Khan film 'Chak De' tax free in Bihar, the government hoped to encourage sports in the state.
Modi also suggested hosting a football and cricket match involving top players of the nation in Patna to promote sporting environment in Bihar.
Others who spoke on the occasion included state Sports Minister Janardan Singh Sigriwal and BJP legislator Arun Kumar Sinha.
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