Sports city project in Narowal: Ganjera arrested by FIA over corruption charges

KARACHI: Former Director General of Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) Dr Akhtar Nawaz Ganjera has been arrested by Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for his alleged involvement in corruption in the national sports city project in Narowal.

Sources said Ganjera was arrested on Wednesday night from his house located on the premises of Pakistan Sports Complex in Islamabad. He has been shifted to FIA’s Gujranwala office on five-day remand, sources said.

Ganjera retired in February this year. Narowal city sports project was a mega scheme as the government allocated Rs467.010 million for it. The approved cost was Rs2,994 million as per official figures. Ganjera, the sources said, was also acting as project director. The complex has been inaugurated, but a lot of construction work is yet to be done, the sources said. Some top officials of federations also criticised the project on the ground that the complex was too far away from the mainstream sports teams. They said this huge amount should have been spent on establishing a mega complex at Abbottabad which could have met Pakistan’s sports demands in summer.

Ganjera was suspended when the PML-N was in power on charges of corruption but former federal minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) Riaz Hussain Pirzada got him back. The minister resigned in protest, which forced the government to reinstate him.