July 27, 2008	Sunday	Rajab 23, 1429

LAHORE, July 25: Some of the ICC Champions Trophy Secretariat staff have not been paid salaries according to the specified remuneration proposed by the game’s governing body, Dawn learnt on Friday.

A case in point is the salary of one of the staff members who has been dealing with the media affairs and is reported to be receiving US$ 800 for the job as opposed to $1200 which have been fixed for the post in the ICC budget.

According to the documents available with Dawn, all thirty one staff members of the ICC Secretariat were hired for a 13-month period but the appointment letters issued to one individual was only for eight months.

The Champions Trophy is scheduled to be held in Pakistan from Sept 12 and the Secretariat has been working at the Cricket House, Lahore.

The individual, who did not want to disclose his identity, stated that when he pointed out the anomaly in his pay and requested $1200 as promised, the Secretariat showed an indifferent attitude and later sacked him from the job.

When contacted, Event Director Ahmed Farooq though admitted some staff members were being underpaid but said that was due to their inadequate qualifications. “Yes, the ICC proposed $1200 for the media coordinator’s job but that is the maximum amount and it is up to us to decide the exact salary which can be below that proposed amount,” Ahmed clarified.

According to the budget of these 13 months, the total salary expenditure of the Secretariat was $510,900. The staff members comprise an event director and general manager, seven managers, three venue media coordinators, one brand executive, six assistant managers, one executive assistant, five drivers, four office boys and two dispatch riders.

The secretariat has to cater to around 184 players of eight participating teams during the Champions Trophy.

As the security of the players and officials during the Champions Trophy is a major issue currently, the ICC has allocated an estimated amount of $245,902 for security and policing. About $98,361 have been fixed for publishing 600 media handbooks while another hefty sum of $131,148 has been allocated for publishing 8,000 souvenirs/brochures.

Moreover, a sum of $204,918 are fixed for media catering for 20 days for 250 persons at the rate of $20. The catering budget for the ICC/host staff of 160 persons has also been fixed at $20 per person.