Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee gave away Khelashree awards today at an event at Netaji Indoor Stadium. Several well-known sports persons were present at the occasion. The awards were given by the State Youth Services and Sports Department.
The awards, part of the Khelashree Scheme, and which include a monetary part, aim at rewarding eminent sportspersons of Bangla.
The Khelashree scheme, started in 2012 (financial year 2011-12), also aims at improving the sporting infrastructure of the State, including the building of stadiums and gyms, buying of equipment, construction of equipment storage spaces, etc.
Grants for the above purposes were also handed out at the awards ceremony.
Winners for the year 2018-19 are:
Lifetime Achievement Award:
Ex Footballer Sukumar Samajpati
Ex Tennis Player Joydeep Mukhopadhay
Special Honour:
Swapna Barman
Khel Samman:
Rajashree Prasad
Rubia Das
Uthsava Palit
Srijit Paul
Abhimanyu Easwaran
Sukanya Parida
Devneta Roy
Pintu Mahata
Samad Ali Mallick
Koushik Kazi
Mandira Hazra Chowdhury
Arjun Das
Satirtha Biswas
Swadesh Mondal
Ayhika Mukherjee
Ronit Bhanja
Tithi Dhara
Krira Guru:
Pradip Kumar Kundu
Kalyan Chaudhuri
Md. Ali Qamar
Swapan Sadhu
Amritalal Chakraborty
Minara Begum
Tapan Chandra
Special Award:
Sourav Kothari
Pranab Bardhan
Shibnath Dey Sarkar
Sumit Mukherjee
Debabrata Majumdar
Saptarshi Roy
Ishan Porel
Mehuli Ghosh
Rimo Saha
Mouma Das
Sutirtha Mukherjee
Prapti Sen
National Champion Jr. Volleyball Women’s Team
National Champion Sr. Table-Tennis Women’s Team
All India BCCI 50 Overs’ National Champion Sr. Cricket Women’s Team
Banglar Gourav:
Mukti Saha
Arup Bhattacharya
Gargi Banerjee
Satyabrata (Raju) Mukherjee
Ranadeb Bose
Shyam Sundar Mitra
Subrata Porel
Chaitali Chatterjee
Debjit Ghosh
Parimal Dey
Sudhin Chatterjee
Tushar Rakshit
Ajit Singh
Sagarika Hazra
Shreyashee Banerjee
Highlights of the Chief Minister’s speech:
- Today we have launched Dibyendu Barua Chess Academy
- Since 2013 we are awarding sportspersons with lifetime achievement, special awards, Banglar Gourav, Khel Samman and Khelashree Samman.
- Today we have given financial assistance of Rs 1 lakh to 221 coaching centres in the State. 24,000 clubs in rural and urban areas will receive Rs 5 lakh (Rs 2 lakh in the first year and Rs 1 lakh in the next three years). 4,300 clubs received Rs 2 lakh today.
- When we came to power in 2011, the budget of sports department was 73 crore. Now it has increased 7 times to Rs 515 crore.
- We organise sports competitions in Jangalmahal, Darjeeling, Terai, Dooars. The winners are appointed as civic volunteers.
- Some people only remember sportspersons when they win some award, and merely tweet. They do not remain in touch with them throughout the year.
- There are many sportspersons who cannot even afford two square meals a day. I will ask the Sports department to start a pension scheme for them.
- Not every action should be publicised. Some actions require empathy. Empathy is for 365 days a year, not once in 5 years.
- We have to struggle to survive. Every moment is important. I wish the best for the sporting world.
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