Punjab: PSPCL decides to do away with sports cadre posts

PATIALA: Going against the stand taken by the state government to promote sports by ensuring jobs for sports persons in various departments, Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) has decided to do away with the utility’s sports cell impacting more than 500 posts in the power corporation.
Earlier, the PSPCL had taken this decision in 2018, but the then Punjab power minister Gurpreet Singh Kangar had come down heavily on the power corporation and stated that the state government was in favour of encouraging sports culture among the youth and absorbing them in suitable avenues.
However, during the last board meeting, the power corporation decided to scrape all posts of sports cell and with the retirement of the incumbent sports persons working in the corporation, it would be declared a dying cadre.
Questioning the rationale behind the scraping of the posts, one of the international players said on the one side the government is coming up with a separate sports university in the state while on the other, the PSPCL, which has been a major recruiter of sports persons, has decided not to absorb the players which will have a demoralising effect on the upcoming sports persons.
Since its inception the power corporation has given jobs to over 500 players; the corporation also held the All India Sports Control Board Champions Trophy for over a decade and a half and also has Arjuna Awardee on its role. Besides, the corporation also has a huge sports infrastructure at Patiala, Bhatinda and other districts.
Time and again the government has harped upon the need to encourage the youngsters to take up sports to keep them away from drugs. Therefore, Kangar had ordered an immediate review of the decision in 2018 and got the move stalled.
However, now facing a cash crunch, the power corporation had recently decided to scrap around 40,000 posts in various sections of the department which had either been lying vacant or had been left redundant. The last to join the list is the sports cadre. The latest decision is also likely to impact the promotions of the individuals recruited in the board on a sports basis.
Now, it has been decided that the posts in the sports cadre will not be filled and staff already recruited for sports will be adjusted in other sections. These include players and coaches.
A senior official of the power corporation on condition of anonymity said that the board was facing a crisis like situation and it was not even able to meet the day to day expenses and under such circumstances some drastic steps had to be taken.