Punjab has several institutions and bodies operating in the name of development, sports and public welfare, but the structures, sources of funding and remuneration arrangements are very different. A closer examination of the Punjab Cricket Association, Punjab Development Commission and Punjab Tirth Yatra Samiti raises an important public-interest question: how many people are actually employed, what are they paid, and what other benefits are attached to these positions?
The first clarification is important. What is commonly called the “Punjab Cricket Board” is actually the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA). It is not a Punjab Government department. The PCA maintains its own financial statements and annual reports, and its website currently provides the audited financial statements for 2024-25 and the annual budget for 2025-26.
The PCA’s publicly available accounts show that employee remuneration is a significant expenditure. In its audited accounts for 2021-22, the PCA reported ₹1.7646 crore under “Salary (including EPF, ESI, Gratuity etc.)”, compared with ₹1.6471 crore in the previous year. This figure was for the organisation’s salary bill as a whole and does not establish the salary of each employee.
The PCA has also expanded its public disclosure system. Its website now carries monthly information concerning payments above ₹25 lakh, including entries for 2026. That makes the organisation’s financial records particularly relevant for any detailed investigation into its expenditure, professional staff, consultants and major payments.
However, the available public records do not provide a reliable current employee-by-employee salary register from which every PCA employee’s name and monthly salary can responsibly be stated. Therefore, rather than inventing figures, a proper investigation should obtain the PCA’s latest staff strength, appointment orders, salary structure and payroll-related expenditure directly from its current records.
The second institution is the Punjab Development Commission (PDC), which is substantially different from the PCA. The PDC was created as a policy and development body and has recruited advisers and research personnel on a contractual basis. A recruitment document reported positions for Advisors, Joint Advisors and Senior Research Officers, with monthly remuneration of ₹2.65 lakh for an Advisor, ₹2.20 lakh for a Joint Advisor and ₹1.25 lakh for a Senior Research Officer.
There is some inconsistency in publicly reported figures concerning the exact number of Joint Advisor posts. One recruitment document available publicly lists 8 Advisors, 11 Joint Advisors and 15 Senior Research Officers, while a 2025 report in The Tribune described the appointments as 8 Advisors, 15 Joint Advisors and 15 Senior Research Officers. Because of this discrepancy, the final employee count should be checked against the latest government appointment orders before publication.
Using the higher publicly reported structure of 8 Advisors, 15 Joint Advisors and 15 Senior Research Officers, the contractual salary calculation comes to approximately ₹7.295 crore a year, assuming every sanctioned position is occupied for twelve months. The calculation is ₹2.544 crore for eight Advisors, ₹3.96 crore for 15 Joint Advisors and ₹2.25 crore for 15 Senior Research Officers. This is a theoretical annual payroll based on the advertised rates, not proof that the Punjab Government actually spent ₹7.295 crore in a particular year.
The names of all serving PDC personnel should also not be guessed from media reports or professional networking websites. The appropriate source for a final investigation is the Commission’s current appointment list, contracts and expenditure records. This distinction matters because a person recruited for a particular post, a sanctioned post and a person actually drawing salary are three different things.
The third case — the Punjab Tirth Yatra Samiti — presents an entirely different arrangement. The Punjab Cabinet approved a four-member Samiti consisting of a chairperson and three members. Kamal Bansal was appointed chairperson, after previously being associated with the Delhi government’s Tirth Yatra Vikas Samiti.
Here comes the striking part. According to the Indian Express report on the government’s arrangement, the four members of the Samiti were to be honorary and would receive no salary or honorarium. Therefore, it would be incorrect to describe Kamal Bansal or the other three members as receiving a monthly government salary from this Samiti.
But “no salary” does not mean “no government cost.” The chairperson was entitled to accommodation at the level applicable to a Chief Secretary, while the three members were entitled to accommodation at the level applicable to Principal Secretaries. Travel allowances were also part of the arrangement. In other words, the financial burden, if any, comes through facilities and allowances rather than a monthly honorarium.
The distinction is particularly important because the Tirth Yatra scheme itself has become a major government programme. By June 2026, more than 2.42 lakh devotees had reportedly travelled under the scheme. The first phase involved expenditure of approximately ₹103 crore, while the government subsequently expanded the destinations.
The Revenue Department is now closely involved in administration of the scheme. A Punjab Government e-procurement document identifies the Secretary, Punjab Tirth Yatra Samiti as the tender-inviting authority for selecting a transaction adviser for the operation of the Mukh Mantri Tirth Yatra Scheme. The tender concerned the selection of a private-sector partner for operating the scheme.
This produces three very different financial models. The Punjab Cricket Association has salaried professional staff and its own institutional finances. The Punjab Development Commission has contractual professional posts carrying remuneration running into lakhs of rupees per month. The Punjab Tirth Yatra Samiti, by contrast, has four honorary members who reportedly receive no salary or honorarium but are entitled to government-level accommodation and travel facilities.
The public-interest question, therefore, should not simply be “How much salary is being paid?” It should be broader: How many people are appointed? What is the sanctioned strength? What is the actual strength? What is the monthly remuneration? What are the allowances? What accommodation, vehicles, staff or other facilities are provided? And what is the total annual cost to the public institution or the state exchequer?
For the Punjab Development Commission, these questions are particularly relevant because even the advertised contractual remuneration shows that senior appointments can involve substantial monthly expenditure. For the Tirth Yatra Samiti, the absence of salary makes it even more important to calculate the monetary value of accommodation, travel and other facilities. For the PCA, the latest audited accounts and its monthly high-value payment disclosures provide the basis for a separate examination of salaries, consultants and major expenditure.
A serious Punjab Outlook investigation should therefore avoid creating a sensational “salary list” from incomplete information. Instead, it should demand the complete current staff register, sanctioned posts, appointment dates, salary/honorarium, allowances, government accommodation, vehicle entitlement and total annual expenditure for each body.
The bigger question is one of transparency. Punjab’s taxpayers and citizens have a legitimate interest in knowing not merely who occupies public or publicly supported positions, but what each institution costs, what its employees or office-bearers receive, and what measurable public purpose is being delivered in return.That is where the real investigation begins.
Disclaimer: This article and accompanying images are for informational and illustrative purposes only. Some visuals may be AI-generated or digitally enhanced and may not depict actual events or persons.Views expressed are based on publicly available information and analysis