February 15, 2006	Wednesday	Muharram 16, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Feb 14: The Senate Standing Committee on Sports was told on Tuesday that the Niaz Cricket Stadium Hyderabad will not in future be used for holding marriage ceremonies.

The Sindh Minister for Sports assured the house that the practice would be discontinued and the stadium would be used for the purpose it was built.

He said that staging international matches at the venue was not possible because there was no five star hotel in the city. However, he disclosed that some initial steps in this regard had been taken.

He said the decay in the stadium had been arrested and it had been restored to international standards.

Senator Muhammad Enver Baig suggested that it would be appropriate if the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), being a rich organisation, was asked to negotiate with parties for building a quality hotel.

He urged the Sindh authorities to include Sukkur also in their plans so that there were more cricket centres in the province.

The meeting which was chaired by Senator Zafar Iqbal Chaudhry also discussed the National Sports Strategy/Policy.

Later, Enver drew the attention of PSB director general Brig Arif Mehmood Siddiqui towards the National Coaching Centre in Karachi.

He pointed out that the PSB had allowed a CNG Station there and the venue was also being used for parties and marriages.

The Senate Standing Committee on Sports, Culture and Tourism directed the PSB “to not allow such sensitive installations near parks and coaching centres”.

The PSB was directed to ensure that they were removed from there and that the general condition of the Centre was improved.

The next meeting of the committee is likely to take place in Karachi.

PSB chief said the country was facing acute shortage of parks and playgrounds because there had been no progressive development of sports infrastructure.

But recently, President Gen Pervez Musharraf raised the funds to the PSB to Rs500 million and the Central Board of Revenue has exempted sports equipment donated by foreign sports bodies from payment of customs duty, he said.

Asked about the “available sports infrastructure”, the PSB official told the committee that there existed 14 swimming pools of 50 metres length, eight athletics synthetic tracks, 18 hockey synthetic turfs and “five to six multipurpose halls” in the country.

The committee directed the PSB to “properly upgrade and maintain” the sports infrastructure and “to formulate viable policies for encouraging sports activities at district and tehsil level”.