PESHAWAR: The Directorate General Sports Khyber Pakhtunkhwa here on Thursday sacked 295 daily wages employees, including 84 senior and junior qualified coaches.
The decision was taken by newly appointed Director General Sports Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Captain (Retd) Khalid Mehmood due to lack of funds, a source wishing not to be named said. He disclosed that 295 daily wages staff including 84 qualified coaches have been dismissed from services from June 30, 2023.
When contacted, AD Account Amjad Iqbal told that the Directorate General Sports had kept a one-year grant of Rs. 300 million for the salaries of ground staff, finance, class four and qualified senior and junior coaches of various games who served the Directorate during that year have been terminated from June 30.
He said the one-year contract of the contingency staff including junior and senior coaches was completed by June 30 so their services have also been terminated. However, according to the directives issued by the Director General Sports, a revised PC-I has been prepared with a total cost of Rs. 6.5 million to be submitted to the P&D department for final approval. After the approval, the services of the coaches and other related staff could be re-hired.
He said according to the special instructions of DG Sports Captain (Retd) Khalid Mehmood, a revised PC-I has already been made, which has been included in the new ADP covering one year with all status and would be submitted to P&D for further action.
The total cost of the project is Rs. 6.5 million but it could be exceeded to Rs. 750 million which will enable the re-hiring of all the required employees again, Amjad Iqbal said adding that many projects including games for special people, Inter-Madaras Games and other activities could not be started due to non-availability of funds.
The daily wages staff of 295 staff including 84 coaches have been paid Rs. 25,000 per month, all of whom have been dismissed as their one-year term expired on June 30, 2023. Similarly, according to the revised plan, actions are being taken for the restoration of all the coaches and other relevant staff.
It is worthy to mention here that the daily wages staff performed their duties from Dera Ismail Khan to Chitral including at Hayatabad Sports Complex, Peshawar Sports Complex, Abdul Wali Khan Sports Complex Charsadda, Kolachi Sports Complex, Dera Ismail Khan, Qazi Mohib Sports Complex Bannu, Sports Complex Kohat, General Ehsan Sports Complex Mardan, Baja Bamkhel Sports Complex, Swabi, Upper Dir Sports Complex and other developed sports infrastructure of the province.
The revision plan depends on the availability of funds from the Finance Department. Due to non-availability of funds, the Annual Grand-in-Aid to various associations enlisted with Directorate General Sports KP has also been suspended and only a few of them were given half of their Grand-in-Aid only.
Due to non-availability of funds to associations, the sports activities largely halted and the sports fields are giving a deserted look.
When contacted, Director General Sports Captain (Retd) Khalid Mehmood, he said works are slower down due to non-availability of funds for mega projects like Arbab Niaz Cricket Ground, Hayatabad Cricket Stadium, Peshawar Sports Complex and 116 other projects related to developing sports infrastructure.
He said, the construction work is at a standstill, on which all necessary steps have been taken on the government level to ensure not only the completion of the sports infrastructure, but also to start the sports activities.
He disclosed that more than 85 percent of work on Arbab Niaz Cricket Stadium and 75 percent of the construction work on Hayatabad Cricket Stadium have been completed besides steps have been taken to complete the remaining work accordingly.
He said Games for Special Persons Heroes Awards Ceremony, and KP Inter-Madrasas having 400 athletes, 50 players from each of the 8 Regions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would be organized in due course of time in two different games.