LAHORE, Feb 20: Punjab Sports Minister Moeenuddin Riaz Qureshi has admitted that his department could not use the annual budget in the past due to which successive governments did not increase the annual allocation.

The minister said at a press conference on Tuesday that when he took the charge four months ago, he had no idea why the department had failed to utilise the budget.

Prior to the establishment of the sports department, the games were conducted by an autonomous body, the Punjab Sports Board, with an annual grant of Rs18 million. This practice continued for 27 years.

The Punjab government increased the allocation by establishing sports department some three years ago. But the ministry and the Punjab Sports Board jointly failed to organise sports activities so that the fund could be utilised, he added.

Punjab has failed to increase the monthly stipend of talented sportspersons. It is offering Rs1,000, Rs700 and Rs500 to athletes according to criteria it has set. The amount is too meager to motivate athletes to perform. The major chunk of the stipend is being spent on traveling because many of them have to come from far flung areas of the province to collect their cheques from Lahore.

“I agree that the amount is not enough to meet the expenditures of the athletes. I will try my best to increase it,” the minister vowed.

He said the sports department had been paying more attention to improve the infrastructure and now it would give more consideration on the players’ welfare.

The minister did not answer questions on why the department burdened districts to spend on their teams which were participating in the sixth Punjab Under-17 Inter-District Hockey Championship and what would be the use of the money the department would save.

In the past, the Punjab Sports Board had been offering free kits, travel and daily allowances to the players and officials to encourage them. But, now it had instructed the district bodies, which had no allocation for sports activities, to send the teams on their own expenses. The decision could reduce the number of teams in future.

Mr Qureshi said no decision had so far been taken to close down the offices of the Punjab Hockey Association at the National Hockey Stadium.

Pakistan Hockey Federation president Zafarullah Jamali would be here in a couple of days and a unanimous decision would be taken in this regard, he added.

Punjab Sports Board Director General Brig Yaqoob Farooq (retired) said the Punjab government had given the approval for installation of floodlights at the National Hockey Stadium. The work would be completed till October.

He said the construction on an international standard swimming pool in Lahore was about to start.