Bhopal:
With the situation of the Indian Hockey getting critical with time, the Punjab government and the Madhya Pradesh government have put their hands up in support of the team and decided to meet all their demands.
The Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that the State government was willing to bear the expenditure for increased payment and training for players of Indian national hockey team.
An official release said that the Chief Minister made the offer at a meeting where he reviewed the functioning of the State sports department.
He also said that steps for implementing the offer would be taken soon.
Punjab Dy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal who is president of Punjab hockey federation felt sad on petty condition of Indian hockey players participating in a camp being organised for World Cup.
Badal told reporters in Bhatinda that the Punjab govt was ready to foot the expenses of the Indian hockey team. He said, "Punjab govt is willing to take all responsibilities, expenditures, training of all the players. We are willing to take on all the expenses and the training if they send the camp to the Punjab govt."
He offered Indian Hockey Federation to allow Punjab government to hold the camp and all expenses and salaries will be borne by the Punjab govt. because Punjab has a full fledged infrastructure for training. He even offerd to adopt entire Indian hockey team for futher training expenses.
The offer assumes importance as national hockey players are boycotting the camp for World Cup and demanding increased payment for themselves.
The Indian players on Friday had boycotted the ongoing World Cup preparatory camp in Pune for an indefinite period in protest against non-payment of their dues.
The dispute, however, was resolved after a marathon meeting between six senior members of the national team and the top Hockey India officials, in Mumbai.
A five-member Hockey India delegation led by President A K Mattoo arrived in Pune this morning to hold talks with revolting national players, who have stalled the ongoing World Cup preparatory camp to protest the non-payment of their financial dues.
The International Hockey Federation (FIH) vice president Antonio von Ondarza, who is also the world body-appointed observer for HI elections, has also accompanied the five-member delegation of the national federation.
Apart from Mattoo and Ondarza, the other members of the delegation who have flown to Pune to broker peace, include HI vice president Rajeev Mehta, treasurer Narinder Batra, technical director Jagbir Singh and senior official Harish Sharma.
After arriving here, the delegation went straight to meet the players at the Balewadi Sports Complex.