The Department of Youth Empowerment and Sports (DYES) said that they have released funds for 75 athletes for 2022-23.
Department of Youth Empowerment and Sports (DYES) is yet to finalise the list of sportspersons in Karnataka for Amrutha Sports Adoption Programme (Amrutha Kreeda Datthu Yojane), authorities said. The scheme provides funds for sports persons to help them train for the Olympics and Paralympics.
Sujatha, an official of DYES said that a meeting will be held next month to finalise the list of beneficiaries.“The list is not yet finalized for 2023-24. We have to rule out some athletes and include new athletes while finalizing. We’ll check the process and decide in the government’s high power committee meeting.” The date of the meeting is not fixed yet.
Acknowledging the improved situation of support given to sports persons, Reeth Abraham, an athlete and former Arjuna Award winner said that the State could do much better. “Karnataka government is barely proactive to help sports persons. It’s really sad.” she said.
Abraham explained that especially young athletes require financial support from the government, as they don’t get any sponsors to help them. “Athletes who get money do not even get it on time.. It comes after one year, which is of no use,” she added.
Former Chief minister Basavaraj Bommai, in the 2022-23 budget speech introduced the scheme ‘Amrutha Kreeda Dathu Yojane’ which distributes up to Rs.10 lakhs to at least 75 sports persons from the state and train them for 2024 Olympics and Paralympics.
However, the 2023-24 budget speech had no mention of the scheme.
Last year, the scheme faced criticism for delaying the sanction of funds. Only 32 out of 75 athletes got their funds sanctioned. DYES, quoting a “technical objection,” said the funds will reach the athletes soon, as reported.
However Sujatha said that the fund for 2022-23 has been released to all 75 sports persons.
