PCB has 23 over-age employees, IPC Minister tells Senate

ISLAMABAD: At a time when unemployment is rife among the youth, the Pakistan Cricket Board has 23 over-age employees who are all contractual.

The matter came to light after Senator Irfan Siddiqui posed a question to Federal Minister for Inter-provincial Coordination Dr Fehmida Mirza, asking her about the number of employees over the age of 60 as well their salaries and the perks and privileges they enjoy.

In a written response, Fehmida told the Senate that there are 23 employees of PCB, who are over 60 years of age.

“All such appointments are made in accordance with the applicable PCB rules regulations approved by Board of Governors,” she wrote. “Among the lists, there are some who were born in 1948, 1952, 1954 ans so on….”

A senator said that while the employment of former Pakistan Test cricketer Wasim Bari could be justified, there was no justification for the 22 others.

In response to another question, the IPC minister said that it would be incorrect to state that the PCB has done away with department cricket resulting in the unemployment of more than 2000 cricketers.

In her written reply, she said that after replacing department cricket with teams representing six Cricket Associations, a total of 192 players have been handed domestic contracts through which they are earning mounts raging from Rs2.5 million to 3.9 million per annum. Whereas, the PCB introduced match fee for City Cricket Association, which is a source of income for approximately 1400 players.

She further said that over 200 coaches and support staff have been given contract under the current domestic structure while more than 20 umpires and match referees have been handed out contracts.

“PCB has taken unprecedented measure to create opportunities for and cater to welfare of all personal involved in domestic cricket,” she wrote.