26 Mar 2023  |   06:12am IST

Rashtriya OBC Mahasang demands financial assistance for sportspeople

While six open-category sportspersons and one each from the SC and ST community will receive aid under a new scheme from the Sports Dept, the OBC community has been excluded, says convenor Madu Naik

Team Herald

PONDA: While congratulating the efforts of the government to produce quality sportspersons in the State by recruiting sports coaches who will provide them with scientific training, the Goa State convenor of the Rashtriya OBC Mahasang, Madu Naik, has demanded the inclusion of OBCs in this scheme. 

Naik has written to the Chief Minister and Sports Minister, demanding their intervention in the matter.

Naik said the Sports Director recently announced that under the Sports Department’s financial assistance scheme, six players who qualify in the open category will be given financial assistance of around Rs 9.82 lakh for personal expenses, travel expenses, accommodation, and application fees, while Rs 1.63 lakh each will be sanctioned for sportspeople from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.  

As per the scheme, six sportspersons from the open category, one from SC and one from ST are eligible to take the admission for such training, subject to their fulfilling the specified requirements. “However, it is surprising to note that no such reservation has been made available for the OBC category on par with SC and ST in the said scheme, which is injustice to the major population of the OBC in the State, though they are entitled to such reservation. The reason for denying such reservation and representation is not known. This is clear injustice to the OBC community,” asserted Naik. “Therefore, I have requested the government to  rectify the mistake and arrange to provide representation to the OBC community on par with the SC and ST community, which will facilitate the OBC sportspersons to pursue the training/coaching in their respective sports field,” he added.