Haryana Cong MLA Aditya Surjewala alleges negligence towards state's players, coaches

From 2019 to 2025, a large number of pending applications under cash award schemes, scholarships, and sports quota jobs have raised serious questions, he said. During the Question Hour, he raised several questions including seeking to know the total number of applications received, accepted and currently pending under the Cash Award Scheme and the scholarship scheme from eligible athletes and coaches from the year 2019 till to date.

Congress MLA from Kaithal Aditya Surjewala on Monday alleged that the data presented by the Haryana government in the state Assembly has exposed serious negligence towards the state's players and coaches. From 2019 to 2025, a large number of pending applications under cash award schemes, scholarships, and sports quota jobs have raised serious questions, he said. He raised the issue in the Assembly and launched a sharp attack on the BJP government. During the Question Hour, he raised several questions including seeking to know the total number of applications received, accepted and currently pending under the Cash Award Scheme and the scholarship scheme from eligible athletes and coaches from the year 2019 till to date. Sports Minister Gaurav Gautam in the House said that applications which have been pending are due to reasons like pendency of documents at the applicants' end. He also said that jobs to the eligible and cash awards have been disbursed from time to time. Surjewala, meanwhile, in a statement, stated that as per government figures, under the cash award scheme, a total of 11,489 applications were received from 2019 till now, out of which only 6,987 were approved. ''A large number of the remaining applications were rejected, while 1,361 applications are still pending. The situation is even worse in the scholarship scheme, out of a total of 26,408 applications, only 16,415 were approved, and 2,209 remain pending. ''Particularly concerning is the recent trend. In 2023, 370 applications were pending; this rose to 684 in 2024, and 307 applications are still unresolved in 2025,'' he alleged in a statement after raising the issue in the Assembly earlier in the day during the Question Hour. He said according to the reply given by Gautam to details sought by him, under the Eligible Sports Persons (ESP) category for Group-C posts, a total of 1,057 vacancies were proposed from January 2019 to February 2026. However, Surjewala claimed that the Haryana Staff Selection Commission has only advertised a total of 447 Group-C posts based on CET-2022 through advertisement, and the process for these is still ongoing, with the main examination (Mains) yet to be conducted. ''No other recruitment for eligible players in Group-C has been advertised beyond this, despite mentions in the Sports Minister's response,'' Surjewala said. Surjewala questioned why, when Haryana's players are winning medals at international and national levels and bringing glory to the state, their awards and scholarships are not being disbursed on time. ''The situation with sports quota jobs is even more deplorable. Under the Outstanding Sports Persons (OSP) and Eligible Sports Persons (ESP) quotas, only one appointment has been made in Group A since April 2021,'' he claimed. The OSP and ESP rules clearly state that medal winners at national and international levels are eligible for jobs in Group A and Group B. ''Despite this, they are not being appointed in these categories. It is extremely unfortunate and concerning that numerous players who have brought glory to the state and country in events like the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, and Olympics are not being given opportunities in Group A and Group B positions,'' he said. The MLA questioned the government on why players are not getting opportunities in higher-category jobs despite enhancing the state's pride. Further, in the statement, he alleged that departmental processes are extremely slow or there is a serious shortfall in budget management. Applications pending for two years are breaking the morale of players. He pointed out that players do not receive their cash awards on time, which are meant to support their training expenses. As a result, many players become overage or are forced to quit sports due to financial constraints. Surjewala demanded that the government immediately clarify the timeline for disposing of pending applications. ''Has any additional budget provision been made for this? Is there any independent mechanism for reviewing rejected applications?'' he asked.

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