Sports federations to get 120 crore boost?
Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith yesterday apparently gave go-ahead to the Youth and Sports Ministry's proposed budget of Tk 120 crore, based on projected expenditure on training, local and international participation, excluding the administrative and other expenditures.
The budget for only sports activities is expected to be placed at the national budget for the 2018-19 fiscal.
This is the first time that the Youth and Sports Ministry has prepared a budget, with specific allocations prepared for 39 sports federations. If approved, this is expected to somewhat resolve the crisis of sports federations which previously had to depend on nominal amounts allocated by the sports ministry, as and when required.
“In the 2017-18 fiscal, we had a small budget worth Tk 49 crore. The amount was Tk 45 crore in the previous fiscal. That was not enough for training players and participating in international competitions. So this time we emphasised on three things -- training, competition arrangement and participation at international events. We have demanded Tk 120 crore from overall budget so that every federation can concentrate on training, arrangement and participation, backed by financial support,” State Minister for Youth and Sports Biren Sikder told reporters after a meeting with Finance Minister AMA Muhith yesterday.
The sports ministry had asked all federations and associations to place a projected budget of five years. 39 out of 49 federations and associations responded to the call by placing a total demand of Tk 385.99 crore for training and domestic competitions and Tk 290.91 crore for international participation. However, the ministry has just placed the budget for one year.
“The Finance Minister assured us that he will introduce a budget for sports activities from the next fiscal,” said Sikder.
Apart from Sikder, deputy sports minister Arif Khan Joy, sports secretary Mohammad Ashadul Islam, Bangladesh Olympic Association's secretary general Syed Shahed Reza and Bangladesh Football Federation president Kazi Salahuddin were present at the meeting. The Youth and Sports Ministry will have a pre-budget discussion with the Finance Ministry on March 25.
“Having agreed with us, the Finance Minister has promised us that he would do as much as he can,” said BFF president Salahuddin.
In the 2017-18 fiscal, Tk 1411.15 crore was allocated for the Youth and Sports Ministry. Out of that amount, only Tk 306 crore was earmarked for sports. And majority of that portion (Tk 256 crore) was for administrative and establishment expenditure. Sports budget was only 0.35 percent of total national budget.
“The Youth and Sports Ministry generally prepares a project proposal on the basis on demand from the authorities concerned and sends it to the Finance Ministry, but there is always uncertainty over whether the full budget will be approved. So the respective federations cannot implement their plans properly. From that perspective, we feel that we need an exclusive budget for sporting activities,” sports secretary Ashadul Islam said.
The Youth and Sports Ministry usually allocates between Tk 2 lakh to 20 lakh for different federations on the basis of their demands every year. Therefore the federations largely depend on sponsors to run their activities and sometimes they fail to hold national championships due to financial constraints.
The sports ministry also demanded Tk 15 crore to launch a U-17 football tournament named Sheikh Hasina National Gold Cup football tournament across the country from this year.
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