PORVORIM: Minister for Sports, Art and Culture, and Rural Development Govind Gaude informed the State Assembly on Thursday that the government will award Rs three lakh to athletes who won gold medals, Rs two lakh to those who won silver medals, and Rs one lakh to those who won bronze medals in the 37th National Games held in the State last year.
In response to a calling attention motion by MLAs Vijai Sardesai and Carlos Alvares Ferreira, the Minister also announced that incentives for coaches would be Rs 30,000 for gold, Rs 20,000 for silver, and Rs 10,000 for bronze. Gaude explained that the disbursal of prize money had been delayed due to a wait for doping test results from the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) concerning adverse analytical findings for athletes who won medals.
Regarding the non-payment to volunteers, he stated that a total of 3,380 volunteers (both general and sports-specific) were engaged during the games. General volunteers received an honorarium of Rs 500 per day, while sports-specific volunteers received Rs 750 per day. Most honorariums were initially paid through Electronic Clearing Service (ECS), but due to technical issues, payments were made by issuing cheques. He added that 103 cheques for sports-specific volunteers and 153 cheques for general volunteers are currently with the Sports Authority of Goa (SAG) and need to be collected by the volunteers.