Chief minister Hemant Soren launched two portals dedicated to sportspersons of Jharkhand on Monday, promising to begin recruiting medal-winners into state government jobs from next month.

At the launch of Jharkhand sports registration portal and sports directorate’s portal at the Project Building, Hemant recalled how soon after coming to power, he had said that development of sports and players was one of the key priorities of his government.

He said that in the first phase of promised recruitments, 33 national and international medal winners, who were initially shortlisted by the department couple of months back, would be inducted after which others awaiting jobs and assistances would be helped.

“It feels bad to come across news of medal winners working as maids, vegetable sellers or doing other menial jobs for survival. Equally depressing is when we hear about miseries of past medal winners or coaches who groomed our athletes living in penury. Therefore, we thought of coming up with a dedicated portal to create databases of all our sporting treasures of the state and work towards their betterment.”

The chief minister iterated his government’s commitment towards sports. Last month, the state government inducted 24 district sports officers to promote sports and players at the grassroot levels. “Our new sports policy too is ready. In the next one month, we are going to provide jobs to 33 shortlisted players in the first phase and will continue to do so thereafter,” he said.

Explaining the idea behind a dedicated portal, sports secretary Pooja Singhal said it was aimed at creation of a database of players, their current status and other requirements for taking action from time to time, both for their betterment and the uplift of sports.

“The portal for players is simple. A player needs to log on to the website, put in his/her mobile number for authentication and then fill a self-explanatory form. Even past players and coaches can join. The portal will offer various services, right from requisitioning cash awards to scholarships, financial assistance, among others. From time to time, the government will hold meetings to approve their requirements.”

Till Monday evening, 553 sportspersons had already registered on the portal. “The portal will also serve as a repository of sporting legends of the state, details about existing facilities of training and coaches along with necessary phone numbers,” she added.