PSPCL Sports Cell a ‘dying cadre’!

Karam Prakash

Tribune News Service

Patiala, June 21

After the Sports Cell of the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL), comprising more than 500 sportspersons, was declared a ‘dying cadre’, sportspersons are trying hard to get the decision reversed.

The decision left sportspersons employed by PSPCL with little or no hope of promotion or career advancement. The sportspersons and trainers employed by PSPCL have written to Chief Minister Amarinder Singh seeking his intervention to reverse PSPCL’s decision.

The decision to declare the Sports Cell as a ‘dying cadre’ was taken by the PSPCL Board in its 58th meeting on August 11, 2017. The order — The Tribune has a copy — states that the “vanishing posts of the Health and Sports Departments shall not be filled and if possible the present staff be shifted to the other sections as per requirement”. This is the first time that a Sports Cell in a Punjab public sector unit has been declared a ‘dying cadre’. Incidentally, the Sports Cell of PSPCL, established in 1974, is one of the biggest sports departments in the state.

Sportspersons employed by PSPCL say that their department has been winning the overall trophy in the All-India Electricity Control Board events over the last 12 years. 

“Despite our regular achievements, declaring our Sports Cell a dying cadre is a huge setback to sports in Punjab,” said a sportsperson employed by PSPCL. “This decision is strange because the Punjab government is busy trying to promote sports in the state.” A senior Sports officer, not willing to be named, said, “Several Arjuna Award recipients are holding different posts in the department. The department is performing exceptionally well, so what made the Board declare our Sports Cell a dying cadre is impossible to understand.”

State Power Minister Gurpreet Singh Kangar said: “The issue came to my notice last night only. I assure the sportspersons of PSPCL that the government will take every possible step to put sports on priority.” PSPCL’s sportspersons will meet Kangar to raise their concerns on June 27.