ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Netball Federation on Thursday urged the Ministry of Inter-provincial Coordination (IPC) and the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) to release the overdue grant for the PNF before the end of ongoing fiscal year, emphasising the federation is facing severe financial constraint in running its affairs.

Speaking to Dawn, PNF president Mudassar Razak Arain said Pakistan’s netball teams participated in the South Asian Girls Netball Championship held in Kathmandu in October 2019 (a month before the South Asian Games) for which Rs3.5 million had been sought from the PSB. “We also applied for no-objection certificates (NOCs) to feature in this event.”

The PSB, he added, on Oct 8, 2019 had recommended a Rs2.5 million grant and referred the case to the Ministry of IPC and issued the NOC for participation in the said event. However, Arain regretted, the promised amount was yet to be released by the IPC Ministry and the PSB.

The PNF president said that delay in release of the grant, has caused problems for the federation as “vendors are constantly demanding us to clear liabilities”.

Arain requested the IPC Minister Dr Fehmida Mirza to look into issue so that the federation could be given the grant at earliest. On June 30, the financial year is ending and PSB has sufficient funds, which should be given to the sports federations before the same get lapsed, he added.

He said that despite several challenges, the PNF has been regularly organising events in the country to promote the game adding that in ongoing financial year, the federation has organised various sports events which include men and women national championships, National Inter-provincial men and women championship. The National Netball Coaching and Umpiring Courses were also conducted this year, he said.

The PSB while deciding funding for national sports federations should keep in view the performance of the PNF, Arain underlined.

“Our men’s netball team won silver medal in the Asian Netball Championship and qualified for the Netball World Cup for Men to be held in Perth next year. Moreover, the women’s team will participate in the Asian Indoors Games in Thailand next year,” he said that for preparation of the these two mega events, the funds are also required.

The PNF president said the federation is also facing financial constraints in meeting its routine expenditures like office rent, salaries of employees, and utility bills.

In his letter addressed to IPC minister on April 27 this year, Arain said, besides demanding the overdue grant, he also highlighted financial challenges being faced by the PNF.

However, he said that the response of the minister is still awaited.

“We hope the IPC minister will play her due role in ensuring the release of our due grant,” he said and also sought the government’s special assistance for the PNF in Grant in Aid (lockdown relief package).

Meanwhile when contacted, PSB spokesperson Azam Dar said the PNF request and that of other sports federations are under consideration. “We will look into the issue of PNF you are talking about,” Azam said.

Published in Dawn, June 26th, 2020