West Bengal rewards CWG medal winners

KOLKATA - Commonwealth Games medallists from West Bengal were rewarded by the state government here Tuesday and were given cash prizes ranging from Rs.2-7 lakh.

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee handed over Rs.5 lakh for every gold medal, Rs.3 lakh for every silver and over Rs.2 lakh for every bronze medal won by sportspersons in the Games held in New Delhi Oct 3-14.

Table tennis players Subhojit Saha, Mouma Das, Poulami Ghatak and Soumyadip Roy, hockey player Bharat Chettri, archers Dola Banerjee and Rahul Banerjee and weight lifter Sukhen Dey attended the function at Rabindra Sadan.

Rahul Banerjee, who bagged a gold and a bronze, was richer by Rs.7 lakh.

“We are very proud of our players who have won medals for the nation in the Commonwealth Games 2010…they have not only brought pride to the nation but to the state also,” said Bhattacharjee.

“It is the duty of the government to help the players and also take care of those players’ families who come from poor economic background,” he added.

The medal winners were also given mementos and draped with scarves.