March 13, 2002
'23'NITISH KUMAR ANNOUNCES RS. 2 LAKH TO RANJI TROPHY WINNERS INCENTIVE TO PADMA SHREE SPORTSPERSONS INCREASED TO RS.20,000/-
Railway Minister, Shri Nitish Kumar has announced a group award of Rs.2 lakhs to the Cricket Team that won the coveted Ranji Trophy defeating Baroda last week. In a function held here today to felicitate the team members and Padma Shree Sportspersons of the Railways, Shri Nitish Kumar also announced out of turn promotion to the Coach of the team, Shri Vinod Sharma.
The Railway Minister has also announced that all Padma Shree sportspersons of Indian Railways would henceforth be given a cash award of Rs.20,000/- like the Arjuna Awardees. The Padma Shree sportspersons of Railways who were awarded by Shri Nitish Kumar today include P.T Usha, M.D. Valsamma (Athletics), V. Baskaran, Mohd.Shahid, Eliza Nelson, Selma D’Silva (Hockey), Taranath Shenoy (Swimming), and Diana Eduljee (Cricket) who has been included for ‘Padma Shree’ this year. So far 13 railway sportspersons have been awarded Padma Shree and seven of them are presently serving the Railways. Congratulating the awardees,Shri Nitish Kumar said that apart from almost increasing the sports vacancies quota to 1200, the Railway’s sports budget has also been doubled. All out efforts are being made to provide better working facilities including promotion prospects to the sports persons of the Railways, he added.
To the Ranji team, for individual performances, Shri Nitish Kumar presented a cash award of Rs.20,000/- to shri Murli Kartik, as man of the series. The best batsman award of Rs.10,000/- was shared by shri Amit Pagnis and Yere Goud who got Rs.5,000/- each, the best bowler award for Rs.10,000 was shared by Kulamani Parida and Harvinder Singh. Best all rounder award for Rs.10,000 was also shared by Tejinder Pal Singh and Sanjay Bangar, while the best fielder award of the same amount went to Shreyas Khanolkar. who got Rs.10,000. Cash awards were also given for individual performances like scoring centuries, five wicket hauls etc.
This was Railways maiden Ranji Trophy win since 1958 when Indian Railways started playing in the Ranji Trophy. Earlier the best performances of Railways were in 1988 and 2001 when they made it to the finals but had to remain content with runner-up spot. This year, on the way to finals they topped the Central Zone League and then in the knock out stage they beat star-studded teams like Delhi, Tamilnadu and Bengal and then outclassed Baroda in the finals.
The Ministers of State for Railways, Shri O. Rajagopal, Shri Digvijay Singh and Chairman Railway Board, Shri R.N. Malhotra were also present on the occasion.