KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly was informed on Friday that Sukkur received more funds than Khairpur and Karachi for the promotion of football and volleyball in the province from 2007 to 2009.

Karachi ranked third on the list of cities which received money for the promotion of these sports, according to the data presented in the assembly during the question hour related to sports.

The data was shared with the lawmakers in response to a question of MQM legislator Moin Peerzada. It showed that Sukkur got the largest share of funds — Rs1.55 million and Khairpur received Rs1.4 million whereas Karachi got Rs1.1 million. The second largest city in the province, Hyderabad received Rs259,000 only.

In the absence of Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, who holds the sports portfolio, Sindh Law Minister Dr Sikander Mandhro answered questions on his behalf.

Pakistan Muslim League legislator Nusrat Sehar Abbasi asked if financial assistance was being provided to ailing sportspersons or the families of the deceased sportspersons. Dr Mandhro informed the house that the provincial sports department used to forward such cases to the Pakistan Sports Board but the practice was discontinued after the passage of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution.

The Sindh sports department had no funds to provide assistance to needy sportspersons but a summary was later on moved to the chief minister so that such a revolving fund could be created, he said, adding the Sindh government would provide assistance to deserving sportspersons and their families after getting the chief minister’s approval and at present three such cases were being processed.

Published in Dawn, September 28th , 2014