Daily Times

LAHORE: The Sports Board Punjab (SBP) showed a soft corner for the provincial sports associations last week by releasing their annual grants after a lapse of eight years. The SBP, in yet another surprise move, also decided to hold the 72nd Punjab Games with the collaboration of the Punjab Olympic Association (PbOA) in September this year. The Games are being delayed for the last many years as both the PbOA and the SBP were not on the same page. But the sudden move has come as a pleasant surprise for everyone involved. If the previous provincial government of Shahbaz Sharif was not in favour of releasing the annual grant of the associations, induction of Shaukat Javed in the provincial caretaker set-up as home and sports minister brought this sudden change in the board’s attitude.

It may be mentioned here that former IGP Shaukat Javed is also chairman of the Pakistan Federation Baseball whose Punjab chapter is also a victim of the sports board’s policy of not getting the annual grant for the last eight years. There is no hard and fast policy, which binds the SBP to cooperate with the PbOA in holding the Punjab Games. And now, no change in any rule was made to pave the way for the issuance of the grants but just a change in the mood of the higher-ups made it possible. No one can guarantee that if the same cooperation between the two will continue next year or not as it all depends on the mood of the higher-ups.

A meeting between the SBP and the PbOA was held at the former’s office under the chairmanship of SBP Director General Aamir Jan and the decisions were taken in this meeting. Every provincial sports association’s official received a cheque of Rs100,000 each as token of grant and they will also get Rs. one million each next month as annual grant. Though the amount is peanuts but it will be useful for running the offices of provincial sports associations. The dates for the 72nd Punjab Games are proposed from Sept 5 to 10. For the last seven years, the PbOA has been demanding the sports board to cooperate with it in holding the games but in vain.

Published in Daily Times, June 25^th 2018.