Alappuzha, Sunday 12 July 2009: A budget of Rs.98 lakh has been approved for the 57th Nehru Trophy Boat Race, which will be held here on August 8.

The executive committee of the Nehru Trophy Boat Race Society, which met here on Saturday, approved the budget apart from deciding to hike the bonus amounts given to participating boats and also to raise marginally the maintenance grant allowed to the boats.
The budget of Rs.98 lakh this year is in comparison with the budget of Rs.75 lakh with which the event was conducted last year.

Interestingly, the committee expressed concern over whether the funds would be raised in time since the international marketing agency, Total Sports Asia, to which the job was entrusted to, has been able to mop up only Rs.50 lakh from advertisements and sponsorship titles so far.

Still, it was decided that the bonus given to the participating boats, in order of their standings in the races, was to be hiked. Accordingly, for the chundan category, the first prize winner would get a bonus of Rs.1.2 lakh as against the Rs.94,000 given last year.

The second place would be eligible for Rs.1.1 lakh as against last year’s Rs.88,000. The boat that finished third would get Rs.90,000, instead of the Rs.82,000 given last year.

However, the fourth place would be given only Rs.75,000 as against the Rs.77,000 given in 2008. The Veppu A grade boats would be given Rs.37,000 (Rs.27,000 last year), while Veppu B grade boats would get Rs.27,000 (Rs.17,000). The churulan boats would receive a bonus of Rs.20,000 (Rs.17,000).

Boats in the iruttukuthi A grade would get Rs.37,000 (Rs.27,000) while B grade boats would get Rs.27,000 (Rs.17,000). The thekkenodi boats, used by women contestants, would get Rs.30,000 (Rs.27,000). The maintenance grant for the boats has been hiked by Rs.2,000 for chundans, from Rs.10,000 to Rs.12,000 while other categories were given a hike of Rs.500 each. So far, 24 boats have registered for the event with the last date of registration being July 15.
(News agency)