By Jag Mohan Thaken
CHANDIGARH: Two teenage basketball players — Hardik and Aman, died in separate accidents in Haryana after court poles collapsed on them during practice sessions in November 2025. Both the players belonged to Rohtak, Haryana.
The painful death of these two promising Haryana Basketball players, not only exposed the ruined infrastructure of playgrounds, but also showed the negligence of the sports officials and the sports department.
These shameful incidents and the negligent and unheeding sports policy of the present BJP-led government has not only fetched criticism from the public but also from politicians.
Criticising BJP’s sports policy, former Haryana Chief Minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, stated that during the Congress tenure, 481 sports stadiums were built in Haryana, and two SAI centres were established. However, the BJP government has not even provided a budget for the maintenance of these stadiums. The BJP government has grossly neglected the interests of sports and athletes in Haryana. The BJP government also scrapped the ‘Win a Medal, Get a Job’ policy, which the Congress government had implemented to secure the future of athletes.
The Congress government had formulated the SPAT policy to promote sports and athletes from the first grade onwards at the school level, which the BJP government ultimately abolished. Under the SPAT policy, daughters from the Scheduled Caste community received an incentive of ₹40,000 upon reaching the district/state level, which the BJP government also discontinued.
Hooda claimed that the Congress government provided employment to 750 athletes in various positions. The BJP government has not provided any appointments to date and has deprived athletes of promotions. They have also been denied cash awards since 2021. Furthermore, this government has even abolished competitions held at the rural level.
In a press statement on January 8, 2026, the former Chief Minister accused the BJP of discriminating against Haryana in matters of sports. He said that the BJP-led central government is deliberately spending very little on Haryana, a state that has brought glory to the country worldwide. On the other hand, the BJP government in Haryana is sitting idly by instead of fighting for the rights of the people of Haryana.
Hooda cited the example of the National Games held in Uttarakhand. He said that in Haryana, only Rs. 4.5 lakh was spent per medal. In contrast, other states like Maharashtra spent Rs. 43.50 lakh, Madhya Pradesh Rs. 1.13 crore, Delhi Rs. 1.13 crore, Bihar Rs. 1.69 crore, Uttar Pradesh Rs. 7.85 crore, and Gujarat Rs. 11.21 crore.
These figures show that the investment made in sports in Haryana always yields results. Despite this, Haryana is being ignored in everything from releasing the sports budget to organizing the Olympics. Even in the ‘Khelo India’ budget of Rs. 3,500 crore, Haryana received only Rs. 80 crore.
Bhupinder Singh Hooda said that despite having only 2% of India’s total population, Haryana contributes approximately 50% of India’s international medals. At every platform – the Olympics, Asian Games, and Commonwealth Games – Haryanvi athletes have been raising India’s flag high for years. Therefore, Haryana’s participation and representation in important events like the Commonwealth Games is extremely natural and justified.
Demanding for organizing Commonwealth Games in the state, Hooda said, if some events of the Commonwealth Games are held in Haryana, it will not only give young players experience in global competitions but will also provide a strong foundation for the sports ecosystem in the state, along with numerous benefits in the form of advanced stadiums, training centres, and modern sports infrastructure.
Congress MP Deepender Singh has also alleged that the Central Government is undermining Haryana’s interests, while the State Government is sitting mute. He said the central government and the state BJP government are completely ignoring and neglecting Haryana’s rights.
Through a press statement, on January 6, 2026, the Congress MP demanded that Haryana be designated as the host or co-host state for the 2030 Commonwealth Games and the 2036 Olympics announced by the Government of India in Gujarat.
He said Haryana, a state that brings 50% of the medals to India from the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games, and Olympics, has been ignored. “In the last four Olympics, Haryana athletes won more than half of the country’s total medals. In the last Olympics, approximately 25% of the athletes were from Haryana. We are proud that since 2006, Haryana has contributed 50 percent of the medals and 25 percent of the athletes in all the Games, including the Olympics,” he said.
“However, when our country was given the opportunity to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games, the BJP government at the centre did not choose Haryana as the host state. Instead, Gujarat was selected. Lakhs of crores of Rupees will now be invested in Ahmedabad for the 2030 Commonwealth Games, and sports infrastructure will be built. If this same sports infrastructure, stadiums, and development had been spent in Haryana, lakhs of crores of Rupees would have been spent on it,” he pointed out.
“The government has announced the submission of official bids to host the 2036 Olympics in Gujarat. Now, the entire sports budget will be spent there, but if this investment had been made in Haryana, it’s easy to imagine how many more medals our athletes would have won. Making Haryana at least a co-host state for the 2030 Commonwealth Games and 2036 Olympics would have diverted some of the crores of Rupees from the budget to Haryana’s sports infrastructure and improved the state’s sports infrastructure,” he added.
Deepender Singh added that Haryana received the lowest budget in India’s ‘Khelo India’. “Gujarat received ₹600 crore of the country’s ₹3500 crore ‘Khelo India’ budget, while Haryana, which won the most medals, received only ₹80 crore, the lowest among the 28 states. The 481 sports stadiums built during the previous Congress government, including the Rajiv Gandhi Sports Stadium and numerous international-level stadiums, have fallen into disrepair and are proving fatal for our athletes. After 2019, these stadiums have been left without repairs, upgrades, or new ones. Sports equipment remains scarce, not to mention the lack of proper infrastructure,” he pointed out.
On the other hand, Haryana’s Sports Minister, Gaurav Gautam claimed that the main objective of the state government is to provide excellent and modern facilities to players. With this vision, the Haryana Government has released Rs.114 crore through the Sports Department for the repair and rejuvenation of sports stadiums across the state. Work has already started at several locations. He informed that additional resources will be spent by the District Sports Council (DSC) to further improve the grading of the sports fields, and a detailed plan is being prepared for this.
While chairing a review meeting, on January 2, at Tau Devi Lal Stadium, Panchkula, with officers of the Sports Department, Sports University, Rai (Sonipat), and the Public Works Department (PWD), the Sports Minister, Gaurav Gautam, discussed the issue of finalising the drawings and designs of modern sports infrastructure.
The Sports Minister directed that officers at the Deputy Director level must conduct surprise inspections of stadiums in their respective districts at least twice a month. Any shortcomings noticed during inspections will be addressed in a time-bound manner, and accountability of the concerned officers will also be fixed. He said that regular monitoring of sports infrastructure is essential to bring real improvement at the grassroots level.
It seems that the state government has started to pay attention towards the weakness of the system.
But here the question arises— “Is releasing meagre Rs.114 crore for the repair and rejuvenation of sports stadiums across the state enough to ensure the safety of the players and to upbring the ground level facilities up to international level?”
Is it sufficient to ensure the revival of trust among the players and public? Will the BJP-led state government pay special heed towards restructuring the department and its facilities to the players? (IPA Service)
