Sports Endowment Fund increased: minister

LAHORE: Making a big announcement, Punjab Minister for Youth Affairs Faisal Ayub Khokhar said that Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has increased the amount of Sports Endowment Fund from Rs2 to 4 billion for the welfare of players of the province. He expressed these views while addressing a press conference at National Hockey Stadium on Monday.

Secretary Sports Punjab Muzaffar Khan Sial, DG Sports Punjab Pervez Iqbal, Deputy Director Zahoor Ahmed and other officials were also present on this occasion.

Addressing the press conference, Punjab Minister for Youth Affairs said that Punjab Youth Affairs Department will establish Punjab’s first ever Maintenance and Repair Department for looking after valuable sports infrastructure. He said constructing a top class sports facility is not a big issue. “The actual task is to maintain and look after state-of-the-art sports facilities in a proper and professional manner but unfortunately this important factor was totally ignored in the past. However, our Maintenance and Repair Department will look after the valuable sports facilities fully,” he added.

Faisal Khokhar said that Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has zero tolerance on corruption and competency. “She picked up competent and right persons in every department to run the affairs transparently and in smooth manner. We will spend Rs5 billion on the maintenance and rehabilitation of dilapidated sports facilities.”

He said that past government badly neglected hundreds of sports facilities, complexes and sports infrastructure and now these sports complexes are presenting a pathetic look. “Literally, I was in shock after seeing 113 valuable sports facilities and infrastructure, including stadium, grounds and sports complexes in dilapidated condition during my visits to different tehsils and districts of the province,” he added.

He said that Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has special focus on sports and youth affairs. “She has directed to construct multipurpose sports facilities and complexes in all provincial constituencies to promote healthy sports activities among youth of the province. Online Sports Complaint Cell is also being established where sports circles can raise different kind of sports issues including lack of sports facilities”.

Khokhar informed that a Sports Advisory Council is also being established in which male and female students from 10 universities will be included. “We will organize Punjab League for the first time in the Punjab province in which the competitions of various games will be held at the union council level. Besides this, we will also bring international coaches for world level training of our players”.