Venues not ready yet
A gymnast performs on the floor of the National Sports Council gymnasium yesterday, as part of preparation for the 8th Bangladesh Games which is scheduled to begin on April 20. Photo: Star
With only six days left to the start of the 8th Bangladesh Games, many of the 28 venues are still unprepared.
The kabaddi mat, the basketball floor, the railing at the volleyball ground need repair work. The swimming pool also needs a new pumping machine. But the National Sports Council (NSC) has refused to allocate any funds, which is why the Bangladesh Olympic Association is looking to do this out of its own accord.
“The NSC, which is the owner of the venues, is unwilling to carry out the renovation work which is why the BOA will have to do the job. We will be spending an extra six to seven lac taka on this purpose,” informed acting general secretary of the BOA Ashikur Rahman Miku at a press briefing at the BOA house yesterday.
Miku also informed that the budget for the opening and closing ceremonies, which was estimated at 11 crore taka initially (half the amount of the Games budget), has been brought down to 8 crore taka.
However, despite the lavish spending on the ceremonies, the games' most attractive disciplines -- athletics and swimming -- is likely to be conducted under hand timing, even if the costs for digital timing would have been only a fraction of the games budget. “These things are long-term procedures and we had little time in arranging these games. And NSC could not let funds at such short notice,” Miku explained to the reporters. Meanwhile, the organising committee of the games sought cooperation from the media and political parties for smooth staging of the sports extravaganza in a separate views exchange programme yesterday.
A six-member delegation of the games, led BOA vice president by Harun ur Rashid, was scheduled to meet the leader of the opposition and BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia at her Gulshan office last night to seek cooperation during the games.
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