Minister only for Magura?

It's good news for Magura but bad news for many other districts. The small town of 1.5 lakh people is going to have an exclusive gymnasium with modern facilities.

Credit goes to the state minister for youth and sports, Biren Sikder, who allegedly abused his power to appropriate Tk 8.51 crore for the gym from a Tk 50-crore fund, meant for development and renovation of playgrounds across the country.

It's also a blatant violation of the finance ministry guidelines that say funds sanctioned for one project cannot be used in another, sports ministry officials said.

An Awami League lawmaker from the tiny district about 180km southwest of Dhaka, Biren took the initiative to set up one of the most expensive gyms in the country despite strong opposition from Deputy Minister Arif Khan Joy and some officials of the ministry.

The state minister took another Tk 2 crore to construct an extended gallery of Magura district stadium. He plans to build the gym beside the stadium, sources said.

In the FY 2014-15 budget, the government sanctioned a special fund of Tk 50 crore in favour of the sports ministry for improvement of playgrounds in all the 64 districts in efforts to promote sports.

But instead of distributing the fund on the basis of need or priority, the state minister along with some influential lawmakers and a top official of the Prime Minister's Office took the lion's share for their own areas, depriving other districts.

The fund was allocated in April this year, but at least 25 districts did not get any money. Many ministers and lawmakers do not even know about it.

The deprived districts are Panchagarh, Thakurgaon, Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari, Rangpur, Kurigram, Gaibandha, Joypurhat, Naogaon, Chapainawabganj, Natore, Tangail, Rajbari, Meherpur, Chuadanga, Satkhira, Bagerhat, Pirojpur, Jhalakathi, Barguna, Sunamganj, Moulvibazar, Laxmipur, Khagrachhari and Bandarban.

In contrast, some districts, including Dhaka, Gopalganj, Sylhet, Magura, Jessore and Comilla, got allocation from the fund for multiple projects.

“I am not aware of the fund and got no allocation from the sports ministry [for my constituency]. I will raise the issue at the next meeting of the Awami League Parliamentary Party,” a senior minister told The Daily Star.

The minister from a southern district is also a member of the AL presidium.

A minister form a northern district said he too did not get any allocation. Construction of a stadium in his district had to be abandoned for a lack of fund. A few months ago, he made a commitment to his constituents that he would complete the work.

“What he [Biren] has done is very bad. Also, he cannot use the fund for one project in another,” the minister added, asking not to be named.

Another senior minister believes that building a gym in Magura will be a waste of money as people will hardly use it.

At a recent meeting, the sports ministry approved all the projects and the release of funds against them, a sports ministry official told this correspondent late last month.

“This means, implementation of the projects will begin in a month or two,” he added, asking not to be named.

Since February, there had been heated arguments between Biren Sikder and deputy minister Joy, also former captain of Bangladesh football team, over the fund distribution. Initially, Sikder had sought to take Tk 20 crore for his district. But as Joy protested, he later tried to take Tk 14 crore, officials said.

When he failed to get hold of even that, again in the face of opposition from Joy, Biren involved central AL leader Dewan Shafiul Arefin Tutul and Vice-president of Bangladesh Football Federation Badal Roy in negotiating with Joy, added the officials, requesting anonymity.

Even, the state minister with the help of some influential people in the government allegedly put pressure on Joy, who remained unmoved.

The negotiation continued for weeks. As the deputy minister remained firm on not signing the official documents for the allocation, the matter went to the PMO for the prime minister's intervention, one official said.

“The deputy minister [Joy] had repeatedly requested the state minister and the secretary not to allocate the money violating policies and guidelines of the finance ministry. But they did not pay any heed to his request,” added the official.

Of the total fund, Tk 7.7 crore was given for renovation of 21 district-level gymnasiums. The districts include Mymensingh, Jamalpur, Faridpur, Chittagong, Rangamati, Noakhali, Comilla, Rajshahi, Pabna, Khulna, Kushtia, Jessore, Dinajpur, Barisal, Patuakhali, Sylhet, Feni, Bogra, Rajshahi and Cox's Bazar. They each got between Tk 29 lakh and 70 lakh.

Tk 6.69 crore went for renovation and development of district stadiums in Sirajganj, Brahmanbaria, Chandpur, Netrokona, Jessore, Jhenidah, Munshiganj and Comilla, and Narail stadium's two-storey tennis complex building, Gopalganj women sports complex and Netrokona tennis complex.

Another Tk 6.25 crore has been given for renovation and development of Dhanmondi Sultana Kamal Women Sports Complex, Paltan Wooden Floor gymnasium, Mirpur Krira Palli, Mirpur National Swimming Pool, Mirpur Shaheed Suhrawardy Indoor Stadium, NSC Building old conference room, and repair of sub-station room of NSC building.

Gulshan Shooting Club got Tk 3.51 crore.

The rest of the fund has also been distributed for similar works in various districts, according to a copy of the distribution list obtained by this paper.

The state minister defended his decision to construct the gym.

Asked if there was a need to build such an expensive gym in Magura, he said, “Everywhere there is a need [of gym].”

He claimed he did not discriminate against anyone.

Contacted, Joy said, “I told the prime minister what I had to say. I don't want to speak about it any further.”

His district, Netrokona, got Tk 62 lakh in allocation.