Sh. Gursharan Singh Maan General Secy. DAA Pathankot welcomed the participants.
Sh. KPS Brar Hony. General Secy PAA also welcomed the members present.
Sh. C. R. Gautam Treasurer of PAA at the start remembered the sad demise of late Sh. Baldev Singh Former Secy DAA Fatehgarh Sahib,and two minutes silence was observed in the memory of Late Sh. Baldev Singh Former Secy. DAA Fatehgarh Sahib who left for his heavenly abode.
Sh. C R Gautam read out the minutes of last meeting held at Ludhiana in May 2019 and the same was approved by the house. The details of income and expenditure of Assosiation’s bank account were also read out and the same was unanimously approved and passed by the house. Mr. KPS Brar raised issue of some pending bills Mr CR Gautam clarified that outstanding bills are already reflected in accounts.
Sh. KPS Brar said before proceeding with agenda he wish to apprise members regarding the conduction of Junior Punjab Federation Cup Athletics meet by Distt. Athletic Association Sangrur. He showed the merit certificates given to athletes signed by Sh. Sanjay Gen. Secy Sangrur and Sh. Prem Singh without the knowledge of Hony. Secy./PAA. Meanwhile Sh. Fateh Jang Singh Bajwa Chief Patron PAA and Sh. A.K Sharma President PAA interrupted Sh. Brar and suggested him to discuss only agenda items first but Sh. Brar continued by saying that there were serious irregularities in the meet like – a certificate was issued to a girl from Sangrur in the event of Pole Vault with the performance of 1.65 mtr whereas the event did not hold similarly in Triple Jump(Women), the distance measured was 8.50 M whereas the minimum distance from the take off board was 11 M.
Sh. KPS Brar said that the events of Junior Punjab Athletics Championship held at Ludhiana were conducted at three different venues and also there was miscommunication due to that few athletes failed to participate and did not recieve the results of the said meet which is being required for verification and gradation purpose.
Members took note of the issues raised by Mr. KPS Brar and urged President Mr. AK Sharma to form enquiry committee in this matter, President assured members that he will take necessary action in this regard.
Registration of district units– Sh. C. R. Gautam Treasurer PAA said that the copy of constitution of PAA will be circulated to all affiliated units for registration purpose. He also advised that the aims and objectives of Distt. Unit should not be changed. He asked members to take help of website INVESTPUNJAB for registration.
Allotment of State Athletics Championships for the year 2021-22: It was decided that all athletic meets of different age groups must be conducted before the concerened national meets.
President, PAA encouraged all the districts units to come forward and take the responsibility to host the State championships. President specially emphasized that those districts who have not conducted any championship earlier should conduct come forward and they were also permitted to conduct championship jointly with other districts too. The names of the following districts were considered to conduct the championship. 1. Hoshiarpur, 2.Tarntaran, 3.Amritsar, 4. Pathankot, 5. Gurdaspur, 6. Bathinda, 7. Nawashahar and 8. Sangrur. It was decided that President may take the final decision this matter after discussing with the respective district units.
Activity Report of DAA and last election held: It was decided that every unit must submit their activity report of last two years and also mention the date of last election of respective DAA within next ten days.
Entry fee for State Championships: It was decided to increase entry fee from Rs. One hundred to Rs. Two hundred per athlete for the state championships.
Sh. M. S Dhillon Chief coach PAA advised that the entry of outstanding athletes must be checked before the last date of submitting enteries to AFI so that no one should miss participation. He also suggested that the enteries of Distt. Units should be submitted by Secy. of concerned DAA. He also suggested that the organising of Athletic meets should be conducted at different places not at one place. He also advised to fix the qualifying marks as performance of 6th position of the National championship held in previous year.
Sh. Ram Partap Secy. DAA Gurdaspur advised that all issues of association should be resolved by discusssion.
Sh. Kashmir Singh Khiala Secy. DAA Amritsar suggested that the matter of selection/ team entries is important and should be clear to all concerned without any confussion.
Sh. Rakesh Ahir, President DAA Hoshiarpur suggested that a letter should be written to Punjab Sports Department that the president and secretary of PAA should be called in all State level sports functions. Athletes should be honoured by PAA. He also suggested that all distt. units should raise funds and also come forward for conducting the meets.
Sh. Sukhraj Singh Secy. DAA Barnala said that very serios irregularties were commited at Punjab athletics meet at Sangrur. He confirmed that few persons were sitting at one table in the corner of the track and they were allowing the outsiders to enter their names in different events after taking bribes of Rs. 100 to 200. They were openly asking for getting entries. He ensured that he personally attended them and got an entry for one girl as proof.
Sh. Swaran Singh Secy. DAA Mohali asked the house for the reasons behind the above mentioned wrong deeds. He said that Secy PAA was absent in few meets. Sometimes in view of urgency to decide the matter Sh. Brar did not respond the phone calls because of which the Association’s working suffered and mismanaged. He appealed the house to come forward for the betterment of Athletics in the State. He offered that DAA Mohali will provide equipments and neccessary manpower for conducting district meets. He also suggested that the record of panel of qualified Technical officials must be with the association.
Sh. Amandeep Singh Secy. DAA Hoshiarpur suggested that Punjab state should adopt the Sports policy of Haryana State.
Sh. Fateh Jang Singh Bajwa Chief Patron PAA & President DAA Gurdaspur congratulated Sh. Amandeep Singh for outstanding achievements of his daughter. He also discussed about the irregularities that happened previously and told the house to avoid such wrong deeds in future. Make a disciplinary committee to keep a check over the association’s work. He promised that he will try his best to get the Sports policy of Haryana be adopted by the PUNJAB GOVT. He showed disappointment regarding the promise made by former President of PAA that he would give Rs. 5 lakh to PAA if he is elected as president but did not keep his promise.
Sh. Bajwa announced that he will give Rs. 5 Lakh annually to PAA. He also said that New Synthetic Track will be laid down at Qadian (Gurdaspur).
Sh. A.K Sharma President PAA congratulated the athletes and the coaches for their achievements and the hardwork they are putting to bring laurels and for strengthening athletics at grassroot level in Punjab.
President told the house that allegations regarding athletics meet by Sangrur DAA will be looked into and a committee will be formed as desired by the house without any delay so that the truth can be brought to the light. Further President showed his disappointment and advised Sh. KPS Brar that he should ask him before raising issues in house which are not in Agenda. Sh. AK Sharma recalled that Sh. Sanjay kumar has been doing a good job during his tenure and also during the tenure of the past Presidents and there had not been any complaints against him in the past. The President assured the house that if any wrong doing has been done, that must be corrected and no wrong doings will be allowed to anyone in future. He suggested and advised the secretary to act responsibly and not to make any personal allegations. He further said we all here to promote the athletics instead of creating a negative environment. A committee will be formed to enquire the matter raised by Sh. KPS Brar.
In the last President thanked each and everyone present in the meeting for giving their valuable suggestions and urged to the members to work deligently for the smooth working of Association.