KARACHI: The financial crisis of PHF employees has further deepened as its 34 employees have been deprived of their salaries for many months, The News has learnt.
The affected employees informed this scribe that 19 employees in PHF’s secretariat in Lahore office and 15 employees in Karachi office at Abdul Sattar Edhi hockey stadium have not been paid for past many months.
Sources said that the Lahore office employees have not been paid for seven months and Karachi office employees for nine months. Sources mentioned that during the months-long financial crisis in PHF, the employees of the Lahore office received their 2 months salaries when PHF’s administration was changed and new officials were appointed, but PHF did not pay the salaries of 15 employees of the 15 employees of the Karachi office.
Sources said that due to the tussle between the two groups of PHF who wanted to control the affairs of PHF, employees of the Karachi office were not paid those 2-month salaries. The affected employees said that the condition of their families has worsened and their family members are facing starvation.
Sources also mentioned that due to the PHF’s lack of interest in the affairs of Abdul Sattar Edhi Hockey Stadium and its employees, the condition of the hockey stadium is also deteriorating. Its turf, which was laid a few years ago, has not been maintained because of non-functioning water pumps and other machines.
They affected employees said that they have finally decided that if authorities concerned did not take any notice of the 9-month delay of their salaries, they would protest and sit on hunger strike at Shahrah e Faisal or Karachi Press Club.
It has to be mentioned that the federal government gave around Rs37 million in special grants to PHF, keeping in view the participation in the international hockey competitions and other expenditures of PHF.
They affected employees pointed out that on the good performance of the Pakistan hockey team in two international hockey tournaments, the federal government announced awards and financial grants to PHF, but surprisingly, the salaries of PHF employees were not paid.
They appealed to the PM Shahbaz Sharif, who is the patron in chief of PHF, to take notice of the delay of the salaries of the employees of Pakistan’s national game and issue orders for the release of the salaries. The majority of the affected employees get less than Rs50,000 per month.