CM gives Arjuna awardee Rs 25L, Rs 1 cr to Tamil chair in Houston

In a function held at the Secretariat, Chief Minister distributed a cheque for Rs 25 lakh to Bhaskaran and wished him all success in his future endeavours. M Arasu, coach of Bhaskaran, was given Rs 3.75 lakh for the award.

Bhaskaran recently won the World Championship held in Thailand and Asian championships held in Pune in the 60 kg category. 

After distributing the cash award, the Chief Minister said, “State government is consistently encouraging sportsmen and women from the state to perform in national and internal arena by providing cash awards to them. 

The state government is also conducting various sporting events round the year at various levels to encourage sports.”

Later, Chief Minister Palaniswami also distributed free bicycles for students of Class 11, belonging to 10 districts of Chennai, Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu, Vellore, Ranipet, Tirupattur, Villupuram, Kallakurichi, Tirunelveli and Tenkasi.

After distributing the cycles, the Chief Minister said that the scheme of distributing free cycles to students of Scheduled Castes and Tribes commenced in the year 2001-02 by the late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and later in 2005-06 the scheme was extended to students of all communities. 

After the state government announced Rs 1 crore for setting up a Tamil Chair in Houston University, Chief Minister Palaniswami handed over the cheque of Rs 1 crore to Sam Kannappan, president of Houston Tamil Chair, in a function held at the Secretariat.