Mamata provides financial aid to 4300 clubs in Bengal

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday sanctioned Rs 2 lakhs each to 4,300 clubs across the state and also announced financial aid of Rs 1 lakh each for 221 sports coaching centres. "Our government is providing a yearly aid of Rs 2 lakhs to 4,300 clubs across Bengal. Also, these clubs would be eligible to get financial assistance of Rs 1 lakh every year for the next three years if they submit their annual audit report," Banerjee said at a sports felicitation event at the Netaji Indoor Stadium here.

"We will also provide financial assistance of Rs 1 lakh to 221 sports coaching centres across the state so that they can develop infrastructure and provide better training to the sportsmen of tomorrow," she said. Banerjee said the budgetary allocation for the Youth and Sports Department, which was Rs 73 crore earlier, has increased sevenfold since her government came to power in 2011.

"We have increased it to Rs 515 crore," she said. Taking a veiled swipe at the centre, the Trinamool Congress supremo claimed that people who used to proactively help out the clubs and sportsmen earlier are now scared of getting hunted down by certain government agencies.