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CHANDIGARH: Finally, the Haryana government has come up with a policy, according to which the state mountaineers climbing Mount Everest after January 12, 2015, shall not be given any cash award. Similarly , the state has decided to pay Rs 21 lakh financial assistance to all those residents of Haryana who had climbed the world's highest peak from May 2, 2010 to May 2, 2013. The periods and the amount of financial assistance (see box) have been decided to make the previous decisions of the government maintainable.

The development is significant as the state government was faced with with requests and litigation seeking financial assistance after the state had paid Rs 21 lakh to woman mountaineer Mamta Sodha , who had climbed Mount Everest in 2010.

The policy has been formulated by the sports department after two mountaineers, who had climbed the Everest in 2011, had moved the Punjab and Haryana high court seeking Rs 21 lakh financial assistance as was paid to Sodha by the Bhupinder Singh Hoodaled Congress government.

The draft of the policy, placed before Justice Daya Chaudhary of the HC on August 3, states that after Sodha scaled the Everest on May 2, 2010, the then chief minister had announced a cash award to Rs 21 lakh to her as a special case for being first scheduled caste woman from the state to climb the peak.

As the state had not policy , a new policy was formulated on May 2, 2013, to provide a financial assistance of Rs 5 lakh to those climbing the peak. According to the department, during the time Sodha climbed the peak, the state was in the process of formulating a policy and in that period several persons from Haryana climbed the Everest. Most of them demanded Rs 21 lakh in parity with her.

Even two mountaineers, Jasbir Singh and Raju Sindhu, who retired from the Indian Air Force , had also moved high court seeking Rs 21lakh. Following their petition, the HC in April 2016 ordered the state government pay them Rs 21in parity with Sodha. The state had filed an appeal against these orders but there is no stay on it.

As per the policy , finalized by the chief minister last month, the state has decided to pay Rs 21 lakh to all those who had climbed Everest from the date (May 2, 2010) when Mamta had climbed the peak and the state had formulated its policy (May 2, 2013). This financial assistance of Rs 21 lakh would be subject to the final decision of state's appeal against April 2016 orders.

