LAHORE: Some national sports federations may receive annual grant from the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) before the ongoing financial year ends on June 30, it has emerged.

The PSB, which did not issue any annual grant to the national sports federations last year while issuing special grants to a couple of federations, this time has considered issuing grants to 19 national federations.

If the government does not issue the said funds, it will automatically expire at the end of the financial year on June 30.

When contacted, a PSB official Azam Dar said that the case of issuing the grants was under process but added that he could not comment on the final fate of the grants.

Dawn, however, has learnt that 19 national federations have been picked for the annual grant, and they will receive the grant according to the rankings set by the PSB.

Here it is pertinent to mention that due to lack of trust between the national federations and the PSB a proper streamlined policy on the issuance of annual grants to the federations could not be developed.

While the PSB argues that the federations have to develop their own financial resources, the federations claim that as cricket is Pakistan’s most popular sport, sponsors are very much willing to invest in it. Therefore, the national federations emphasise, it is the duty of the government to help them promote sports culture in the country.

Soon after coming into power, Prime Minister Imran Khan had appointed Ehsan Mani as chairman of a committee to prepare recommendations for the promotion of sports. However, after the passage of almost two years Mani’s recommendations could not be made public by the government.

Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2020