The Pakistan Railways, in a sudden move last week, took control of the Royal Palm Golf and Country Club after grabbing it back from a private owner.

The Royal Palm Club is the property of the railways. It was constructed in 1912 and the main person behind it was S.N Nilty, the Way Inspector of then North-Western Railways.

Initially, the club had only four holes for golfing activities. Till 1928 the total playing area had been increased to 5,930 yards with 70 pars. After the partition, many members of the club belonging to India and British, surrendered their memberships.

But the railways maintained the club well and also increased the area to 6,000 yards with 71 holes. Till 2000, the club remained with the railways where many national and international golf tournaments were also organized.

But the club was a financial burden on the railways. It was inflicting an estimated monthly loss of Rs200,000 to the railways. With some good measures, the loss could have been transformed into profit.

But in 2000, the railways reportedly, on the pressure of then president retired Gen Pervez Musharraf, had leased out the club to the Mainland Husnain Construction.

The new owner, within a decade, completely changed the status and standard of the club making it the best golfing facility in Lahore. Several national and international golf tournaments were held and almost every visiting golfer praised the facilities provided at the rejuvenated club.

Gradually, the new management also developed tennis, squash and other sporting facilities and for good measures introduced additional business activities.

A cold war between the railways and the new owner was started after the PML-N won the 2013 general elections. Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafiq, since assuming the charge, has been criticizing the deal of the Royal Palm club. The minister declared the deal the result of a political favour given by the then president to the Mainland.

Though the railways have taken control in haste, one wonders, if railways have the potential and ability to run the club without any political intervention.

One can’t comment on the legal points, but if one takes the national interest in supreme, the priority should be given to maintain the club in the best possible way.

All the sporting activities should be continued. Since the club is the entity of the government, the top athletes of the country must be allowed to use its track so as to hone their skill to compete in international competitions. Besides, the trained employee of the club should not be fired.

A good hockey festivity ended in Lahore this last week. The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) organized a Five-a-Side Hockey Tournament under floodlights at the National Hockey Stadium. It was a new experience of the PHF to promote the game which has been facing a decline for the last two decades.

Though the tournament failed to attract big crowed, a few hundred spectators did visit the stadium daily. However, a good crowed, including some families, turned up to the watch the final between Islamabad Fighters and Quetta Warriors.

PIA chairman Azam Saigal was the chief guest. In the past, the PIA and the PHF enjoyed a good relationship, as the national carrier heads had always been the president of the PHF. But after suffering losses, the PIA decided to also leave the PHF in early 2000 at a time when it was in the dire need of financial help.

Islamabad Fighters won the title after beating Warriors 8-5. A cash prize of Rs700,000 was awarded to the Fighters while Warriors pocketed Rs500,000.

The four other teams namely Lahore Lions (3rd), Faisalabad Falcons (4th), Karachi Sharks (5th) and Peshawar Panthers (6th) also got handsome cash prizes. M Rizwan Senior (Islamabad) was declared the best player of the tournament and he received Honda 125 motorcycle.

The top scorer was Dilber Hussain of Faisalabad with 12 goals to his credit. He received an LED TV set. Usman Ghani of Lahore was adjudged as the best goalkeeper and Attique Arshad (Faisalabad) was declared the emerging player.

In a good move, The Punjab University has decided to fix a monthly stipend of Rs50,000 for its promising swimmer Samiullah. The swimmer made the university proud with his outstanding performance in the inter-varsity swimming championship held last month by securing 13 gold, three silver and two bronze medals.

PU Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran has announced the stipend. Samiullah is the student of Institute of Administrative Sciences. The PU has vast financial resources as well as sports infrastructure, but other universities are far ahead of the PU in other sports.

However, the PU’s initiative to provide stipend to an outstanding sportsman will encourage other players to work hard and achieve many milestones in sports.

Published in Dawn, July 3rd, 2016