ISLAMABAD: The task force on sports which was constituted by the Prime Minister a few months agao and is headed by Ehsan Mani, has recommended restructuring of the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) by splitting it into two segments — ‘Sports Pakistan’ and ‘Pakistan Sports Education Development and infrastructure Board’.

A letter from the Prime Minister’s Office, dated Oct 22, 2019, has directed the PSB to implement the task force directives within the next seven days.

The letter with the subject “Overdue task on part of the ministries/division” states that the prime minister has observed that a number of time-bound tasks as assigned are still “pending/overdue” while the deadlines have lapsed.

“Taking serious note of the situation, it has been desired that all pending/overdue tasks shall be completed within seven days and status uploaded in Task Management System,” the directive, signed by Additional Secretary-1, Muhammad Ali Shahzada, read.

“Necessary action may be taken for compliance of above directions within stipulated time and a report be submitted for perusal of the Prime Minister,” the letter added.

On the other hand, the employees’ union at the PSB believes the move will lead to “privatisation” of the institution.

Talking to this correspondent, secretary of the PSB employees’ union Farman Khan said restructuring mechanism suggested by the task force will curtail a large number of employees. “The PSB is an autonomous body. However, it will turn into a private organisation through company act. This move will result in job cuts at a large scale,” Farman feared.

The PSB employees union secretary urged the government to revisit its strategy towards the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB).

This correspondent has learnt that PSB employees’ union had decided to constitute a delegation to apprise the IPC minister Dr Fehmida Mirza about their grievances.

Published in Dawn, October 27th, 2019