Chandigarh, Aug 9 (IANS) Former Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Punjab Sukhbir Singh Badal on Monday urged the Centre and the state governments "to fully acknowledge and honour the contribution of each and every player, in addition to the medal winners, who represented the country at the Tokyo Olympics".
In a statement here, Badal said the governments must not make the mistake of playing to the gallery and hogging limelight by simply focusing on the medal winners alone.
"Our medal winners fully deserve all the credit and praise being showered upon them by governments and other countrymen. But in our enthusiasm to the champions, we must not overlook or be indifferent to the contribution of players who fought bravely.
"Many of them missed winning medals narrowly but their display was as brilliant and brave as of anyone else in the world. We must salute ou medal winners but so must we stand up to acknowledge the other bravehearts who fought to bring laurels to the country."
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President, said: "our hockey girls played like true world champions".
The men accused of killing three men in Palghar have been arrested and are in jail. Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said on he has spoken to Union home minister Amit Shah and assured him that he would look into the case. More than 100 people are in custody. The attack took place at a spot close to Mumbai.
Covid-19 death toll has reached 507 deaths in India while confirmed cases surpassed 15,000. On Sunday 44 new cases of the novel coronavirus were reported in Rajasthan, while in Agra 45 more cases were confirmed. In Lucknow, 43 more people tested positive for the virus.
Tablighi Jamaat, the global organisation of Islamic missionaries, which may be the biggest carrier of Covid-19 infection in India, has had a long history of ties with Pakistan-based banned terror outfits like Harkat-ul-Mujahideen.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday ordered withdrawal of 1,300 policemen from the VIP duties, including from his own security, and their deployment in the battle against the coronavirus.
A religious congregation of 2000 people at a mosque in Delhi's Nizamuddin area which has thrown up several corona positive cases is a ticking time bomb as six of the persons who returned to Telangana have died from the virus and positive cases