BCB facilities committee chairman slams board structure

Bangladesh Cricket Board's facilities committee chairman Shanian Taneem took a swipe at the current structure of the board as he insisted that he could not do even 10 percent of the work that he had planned.

Taneem pointed fingers at the structural flaws of the BCB that had prevented him from doing his work properly. It is the first time a board director openly criticised his own board that is run by incumbent president Aminul Islam for failing to deliver.

In the recent past, BCB's finance committee as well as its tender and purchase committee have come under scrutiny for their tendency to slow down progress by applying different clauses to cross check the prices. According to insiders, this is a major drawback as in the past, when they felt that the price was okay, infrastructural work could not be done due to inclement weather conditions.

Many inside the cricketing circle feel that former BCB game development chairman Ishtiaque Sadeque resigned largely due to his distances more than anything else.

"Honestly, I say that I am not used to working like this. So maybe this is BCB's, or maybe in a corporate world, maybe a system where you have to move forward following many processes and many rules. If it were up to me and if I had special permission to work in my own way, then if today I wished to do a drainage system, the work would start from tomorrow," Taneem told reporters at Bogura on Saturday.

"But at the end of the day I am also answerable. We have to allocate it from the budget, we have to get it passed by the board and then you submit it to different places. Until they pass it for me, until they appoint a vendor, I remain responsible to them, I am dependent on them. So I know that maybe in a corporate world this is the rule. I wish it was better, but I feel that in these four or five months maybe I haven't even been able to do 10 per cent of my work," he added.

"When I first became a board director, the first thing I did was make a short-term plan, a mid-term plan and, if I can work four years, then a plan for that. So even within the short-term plan, we had many plans.

"In Rangpur a big state-of-the-art cricket arena will be built where under-17 and under-19 players will be groomed. From my side, as much as needed from budgeting to planning, I have submitted everything," he said.

"Let me be clear. I am not singling out anyone or saying that this particular person didn't let me do it. Maybe we are restricted by rules, so maybe things are not happening. Maybe it can be sped up, but I guess this is Bangladesh. This is how it works. It's disappointing," he added.

Taneem said that mistrust is a major issue in BCB as everyone is doubting the motive whenever someone wants to work.

"You are talking about corruption-actually working in Bangladesh's culture is a bit difficult because even if you want to do simple work, nine out of ten people will first think how much money Shanian bhai is making from this. It's unfortunate that such allegations come against BCB directors,'' he said.

Taneem, who was very vocal against not playing the T20 World Cup, publicly revealed his disappointment as Bangladesh did not take part in the ongoing global event, citing security reasons and eventually replaced by Scotland.

"I am sure the players are still feeling the disappointment of not being able to play in the World Cup. Personally, I am very upset about the whole situation. Bangladesh cricket should have been kept aside from politics and should have gone to play the World Cup. I cannot imagine how the players must have felt. When a World Cup slips away from a player's career, they must have felt terrible," he concluded.

Aminul Haque, the newly appointed State Minister for Youth and Sports, insisted that the government is looking to resolve issues with India while maintaining friendly relations with neighbouring countries.

Bangladesh did not participate in the ongoing T20 World Cup after the Yunus-led interim government decided against sending the national team to the global event, citing security concerns.