BNS victim of vested interest

HOW DECEIVING LOOKS COULD BE: A picturesque Bangabandhu National Stadium does its best to hide its sordid chinks by colourful ornamentation. Even the lush green could deceive anyone into believing that it's a world-class playing surface. Photo: Star File

The latest tug of war between the CCDM and the NSC over the renovation of dressing rooms at the Bangabandhu National Stadium ahead of the Argentina-Nigeria friendly has once again brought forward the age-old question; who owns the iconic national sports venue and, no less importantly, what should be the purpose of this stadium?
Well, on paper NSC, the sports' regulatory body has the authority over the venue, but in practice they only work as a sort of monitoring and fund sanctioning wing of government, with authority over the venue completely enjoyed by the different sports federations (football and cricket being the powerful ones). As a result, whenever there is development work ahead of any sporting extravaganza, NSC act as the governments appointed agency to sanction funds while the purpose and design of the work are fully determined by the federations themselves. And needless to say, there is a lot of war of interest between the federations themselves, with the more muscular ones (financially and politically) invariably having things their way.
The conflicting interest of football and cricket has subjected the venue to a sort of parentless state. As a result most of the development work that has taken place (and there has been a few in the last couple of years) overlooked many of the aspects that should have been of common interest, but turned out to be no one's. In the last two years alone, the big bowl has consumed close to 50 crore taka in modernisation and renovation work, and the stadium bears a picturesque look from the outside. But there are chunks inside (and critical ones) that have remained strikingly overlooked. Three such areas are the playing surface itself, the dressing rooms and the press facilities, all of which fall far behind international standard.
The football pitch that is in place at BNS is good enough to hold international matches, only if it doesn't rain. But if there is modest amount of rain, the pitch gets completely waterlogged due to the poor drainage system making it almost unplayable. The Pakistan versus Bangladesh World Cup pre-qualifier is a glaring example of that and everyone will be hoping that the Messis and Obi Mikels don't have to experience such horrors.
The dressing room that is in place is only good enough for local sports. In the recent spate of spending, the NSC, in request from BFF, came up with the plan of turning the current ordinary dressing room into a state-of-the-art one. But in the end NSC had to yield in submission to the will of the CCDM (Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis), shelving the original plans and resorting to some temporary measures which are highly unlikely to please either FIFA or the visiting sides.
Now, a valid question is why the CCDM have to have an office at all, let alone occupying all those rooms, obstructing renovation work at the BNS when there is a state-of-the-art venue for cricket in Mirpur. The question is even more valid one considering the fact that there has not been any form of cricket played at this venue in the last 6 years and is unlikely to see any of cricket in the foreseeable future. CCDM can and should be relocated at SBNCS where there ample unused space.
Having said that, CCDM is just one of the organizations involved in the conflict of interest over the BNS. There are others as such, who create a great amount of deterrence to the holistic development of the venue.
Probably the big reason why this tug of war and conflict of interest persists is that the role and purpose of this historic venue hasn't been settled yet. It has been caught between bitter wrangling between federations often enough for the want of a long-term vision laid out by the NSC. There is every opportunity that this stadium, with the surroundings and the logistics that it has, can be turned into a center for sporting excellence, where sports events of any international stature can be held. Just a little cleansing work and resolve is required.