Early Times Report
JAMMU, Mar 7: The face of the autonomous sports body of State Sports Council, the coaching wing, has suffered all these years of its existence with those at the helm of affairs weaken the cadre by either reducing their grades or giving away their posts to other branches of the organization. Came into being in 1959, the State Sports Council enrolled first batch of two coaches, S A Hamid and Trilok Singh in 1964 in the higher grade (8000-12950) only to reduce the grade (6700-10700) in 1968 while appointing five more coaches, including Ajit Singh Wazir and Mohd Ashraf.
The grade of the qualified coaches (Graduation and Diploma in Sports) was further lowered (5700-10,700) when Gymnastics coach, Baryam Singh was appointed in 1970. And, to discourage the cadre, football coach, Bishamber Singh joined the Sports Council in 1980 in a much lower grade (5000-8000).
By discouraging the important wing of coaches, the organization confined itself to the capital cities of Jammu and Srinagar with only 56 sanctioned posts, including 32 junior coaches and a Chief Sports Officer at the top level.
"As compare to those individuals in clerical cadre, it took a junior coach 18 years to become grade-II coach, a step below the position of Manager. During these two promotions, the grade pay improves by just Rs 100 from Rs 4200 to Rs 4300," a senior coach told SAN.
On the other hand, a Head Assistant in the clerical cadre becomes Section Officer without staying at the post for required period of time that too with a pay grade of Rs 4600 from Rs 4200 getting a jump of Rs 300.
"A coach is a qualified person with a Graduate Degree and Diploma in Sports while most of the clerical staff in the State Sports Council, holding top posts, are just matriculate or at the most have passed Higher Secondary level. So, we have been victimized in both promotions and grade pays," regretted another senior officer of the Council holding a managerial post. |
