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Biman won’t fly cricketers

The cash-strapped airliner also shutting down its table tennis team

Shariful Islam
The board of Biman Bangladesh Airlines has decided to scrap two of its four sports teams including cricket after a primary investigation found irregularities regarding free tickets issued to players.
"We've stopped the teams [cricket and table tennis] as now we cannot afford to bear the expenses," Biman managing director Air Commodore (retd) Zakiul Islam told The Daily Star last week.
Although the Biman MD attributed cash crisis for the closure of two sporting outfits, the board meeting on January 3 adopted the resolution after it was revealed that 239 highly-demanded tickets were issued to the players free of charge, flaunting its rules.
The meeting also decided to continue with running badminton and chess with only cash incentives and the provision must be included in the annual budget. Besides, the board has also decided not to issue free tickets to the players anymore.
The decision means that the country's sports lovers will no longer see Biman, which has been patronising sports since 1975 as part of its corporate social responsibility, from next season playing cricket and table tennis.
It will also end Biman's long and glorious association with the two games where it was not just among the top teams but also pro-
vided employment to around 25 cricketers and a few table-tennis players, a policy that is badly needed for the development of sports in the country. For the record, Biman are six-time Dhaka Premier League champions and the winners of the 2000-01 National Cricket League. Besides, they have won the national table tennis title for a record 15 times.
The board took the harsh decision after a primary investigation revealed that all 239 free tickets Biman issued to players and other
officials of the four teams were for the Dhaka-Jeddah route following an approval from its managing director, though there was an earlier decision not to issue free tickets for popular routes like Dhaka-Jeddah and Dhaka-London.
It was gathered that of the 239 tickets issued in 2010, the Biman Sports Committee disbursed 161 for cricket, 35 forbadminton, 21 for table tennis and 22 for chess.
It was learnt that those free return tickets were sold with the consent of the players by a vested group only at Tk40,000 each, to a number of travel agents who sold those tickets at overTk 1.08 lakh each during the demanding Hajj season last year.
And by accommodating those tickets on Hajj flights, Biman was deprived of a huge revenue ofaboutTk2.58 crore.
Nurul Islam, proprietor of Shoring Travels, bought 91 of those tickets last year.
"I bought each ticket at Tk 40,000 in the beginning of the year and sold those at Tk 68,000 to Tk 69,000 each," said the travel agent. Asked why he sold those tickets at such a low price, he said that people didn't want to buy free tickets as they faced undue questions and harassment at Saudi Arabian airports.
The national flag carrier has been issuing transferable free tickets to the players as part of payment since 1981 in an effort to reduce direct pressure on its funds. It was initially hailed as an effective innovative idea with tickets being issued for less popular destinations.
But sources close to Biman said that a vested group on its sports committee itself in conjunction with travel agents worked out a formula of converting a less- priced ticket for a player into a i high-priced one by change of \
hands.
Sources have added that Ali Ahsan Babu, now a general manager of Biman, is the point man when it comes to free tickets for players. Joining the national airliner in 1988-89 as a cricket player, Babu has also served as the cricket team manager for a long time after retiring from the game. Even during the several years he was stationed in Dubai, he used to call the shots, claimed the sources, adding that Babu, who has returned to Dhaka two years ago, might have played a big role in issuing the239 tickets.
When contacted, Babu declined to comment on the matter.
Though the tickets were meant for the players, those were never handed over to them.
TWo officials from Biman cricket and table tennis teams on Saturday claimed to The Daily Star that when they form teams, they sign contracts with players mentioning how much they will getincashandhow many free tickets.
"As it is not possible for the players to sell tickets, they want the money so we [team managers] help them sell those tickets to travel agents in advance less than half of the original price of each ticket in the beginning of the season," they univocally said.
The cricket team official informed last season they spent over 59 lakh taka excluding of 161 fiee tickets issued to players and other officials.
The trend among the recent Biman players has been to let the team officials deal with the tickets and take the money in return. Some, who wanted to remain anonymous, said that they didn't know anything about the tickets though the authorities had confirmed that they signed a paper before the tickets were sold off.