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Feds demand bigger budget
Anisur Rahman
Fearing less support from sponsors in the post-Covid-19 era, most national sports federations are looking for more financial allocation from the government in the 2020-21 fiscal year, but the Ministry for Youth and Sports is apparently moving forward with plans to placea conventional sports budget in the parliamentary session.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board and Bangladesh Football Federation are the most affluent sports bodies in the country and get healthy sanctions from their world bodies, but most other federations depend on sponsors and government allocation to run their round-the-year activities.
Due to the pandemic, the officials of these federations are apprehending a shortage of sponsors in coming days. They fear they may have to drop tournaments from the calendar if their allocation is not increased in the upcoming budget, which is to be discussed in parliament from June 10.
In the 2019-20 fiscal year, the government allocated more than Tk 17.5 crore to 58 federations, associations and organisations to conduct training, hosting competitions and for office management. But there is hardly any chance of an increment in the coming budget as the National Sports Council (NSC) completed its draft budget last month.
“At the moment, sponsors themselves are struggling. The Bangladesh Table Tennis Federation [BTTF] always struggles to get sponsors to organise six tournaments every year and it will be more difficult in the post-Covid-19 period. So we believe the government should come forward and rescue us by allocating additional funds in the budget,” BTTF vice president Hasan Munir told The Daily Star.
Bangladesh Handball Federation’s general secretary Asaduzzaman Kohinoor said: “Our main financial strength lies in sponsorships and we have already dropped some competitions. It will be very tough to get them to reorganise the competitions in coming days, so I think the government should increase our allocation.”
“It is tough to get sponsors even in normal times. We will face more trouble and I think the government should increase our allocation,” Bangladesh Athletic Federation’s general secretary Abdur Rokib Montu said.
“The federations will have to come forward to manage sponsors instead of looking at the government because I believe if you do good work, sponsors will come to you. The national budget may focus on health the sector due to COVID-19, but the sports sector should also come into focus,” Bangladesh Archery Federation’s general secretary Kazi Razibuddin Ahmed Chapal said.
“We generally organise events with the help of sponsors, so we will suffer if a recession starts. If the government gives us additional allocation considering the situation then we will be able to run sporting events,” Bangladesh Volleyball Federation’s general secretary Ashiqur Rahman Miku said, adding that the national sports federation forum, an organisation of general secretaries of all national federations, will soon sit with State Minister for Youth and Sports, Zahid Ahsan Russel, regarding the issue.
Russel recently told The Daily Star that there is very little chance of increasing the yearly allocation as the government is more focused on rebuilding the economy.
“There is hardly any opportunity to increase allotment in the next fiscal of 2020-21. I can’t tell you how much allocation can be increased this time because life comes above everything else. We have to keep the economic wheel running and bring life to normalcy. The government is emphaising those things,” said Russel. “The ministry has another wing, which focuses on youth. Our plan is to train 12 lakh youths in future to make them self-employed. We have another project which is to lend money to 2 lakh youths so that they become self-employed.
However, the higher-ups of sports federations believe the NSC can significantly increase allocation and keep sporting activities running if it refrains from undertaking new development projects, cuts down on renovation work and shifts budgets to training and competition.
HIGHLIGHTS
In the 2019-20 fiscal, the government allocated more than Tk 17.5 Crore to 58 federations
Federations want more allocation as they fear sponsorship money may dry up
Sports minister sees little chance of increasing allocation to sports
Federations propose diverting funds by cutting down on the NSC’s renovation and development projects