May 4: After Nepal qualified for the World Cup Cricket Qualifier with a win over the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on March 16, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal announced that the players of the men's national team would be rewarded with a cash prize of Rs 300,000 each. A month and a half after the announcement, the players have still not received the pledged amount.

Not only that, the players said that they have not even received the rewards announced by the state governments. At that time, the governments of Bagmati, Sudurpaschim, Madhesh, Lumbini and Gandaki provinces had announced that they would reward the players. Among them, Bagmati announced that all the players of the national cricket team will be rewarded with Rs 100,000 each. Other provinces announced that they would give rewards to players of the respective provinces only.

The government once again made a fresh announcement on Wednesday to reward the players although they are yet to receive the rewards announced earlier.

Government Spokesperson and Minister for Communication and Information Technology Rekha Sharma said that the cabinet meeting decided to reward the players of the Nepali national cricket team for being selected for the Asia Cup at the rate of Rs 600,000 for each of the qualified players. Nepal won the title of the ACC Men's Premier Cup held on Tuesday by defeating UAE to book a place in the Asia Cup, the highest level cricket tournament of Asia.

However, it is not yet decided when the players will get this reward. Stakeholders say that the government should not delay in handing over the pledged amount as it gives encouragement and motivation to the players.

Acting Secretary of Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) Durgaraj Pathak says that the delay in rewarding the players is likely to increase the distance between the players and CAN. He said that the players often ask him when they would receive the reward.

He said that officials of the Ministry of Youth and Sports have said that they will give the rewards according to the procedure.

However, Pathak says that the provisions in the 'Sports Honors and Awards Procedure-2072' made to give rewards to the players are complicated, which is also one of the reasons for the delay in receiving the rewards.

He says that Nepali cricket players have not even received reward announced for the tri-national cricket series which they won three months ago.

Shiva Ram Neupane, joint secretary of the Ministry of Youth and Sports says that the rewards announced for the players are still in the process and will be given soon. He said, “After receiving the report from the National Sports Council, the ministry will proceed with its process to hand over the rewards.”