LAHORE: Service rules will be established for 134 employees working in permanent positions at the Sports Board of Punjab (SBPb), as no such rules have existed for decades.

This decision was made during a general body meeting of the SBPb held on Monday, chaired by Punjab Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Malik Faisal Ayub Khokhar.

Many employees at the SBPb are employed on a non-regular basis under various terms, including work permanent, pay packages and regular terms. Although a policy to regularise these employees was previously approved by the general body, no concrete steps were taken to implement it.

According to a press release issued by the SBPb, the cases of the 134 employees working on a work permanent basis will be forwarded to the finance department for the formulation of rules and regulations. However, there was no mention of employees working on pay packages, a newer term replacing the old daily basis (89-day) employment.

A considerable number of employees are working under these pay packages, yet there are no specific rules for them, nor are they receiving the regular annual pay increases announced by the provincial government during the annual budget.

An issue is that while the government allocates substantial budgets for sports infrastructure, there is often no accompanying policy to employ staff to run these facilities. As a result, many projects remain non-functional, depriving players of access to sports infrastructure. Rather than outsourcing the management of these projects, they remain closed due to a lack of proper staffing.

Meanwhile, the general body also approved a 75 per cent increase in membership fees for its international swimming pool in Lahore. The installation of a new tube well for the pool was also approved.

The meeting was attended by department secretary Muzaffar Khan Sial, Vice Chairman of SBPb Awais Rauf, Director General of Sports, Punjab, Pervez Iqbal, MPA Ajmal Khan Chandia, PITB Director General Sajid Latif, Pakistan Tennis Federation President Aisamul Haq, Idris Haider Khawaja from Punjab Olympic Association, Arshad Sattar from Pakistan Wrestling Federation, former Olympian Khawaja Junaid and Director Sports from Government College University M Waseem, among other officials.

Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2024