Sports organisers have expressed their disappointment at the decision of Bangladesh Cricket Board President Nazmul Hasan to switch the floodlights of Khulna’s Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium (SANS) to Sylhet as an interim arrangement for hosting next year’s ICC World Twenty20.
Moniruzzaman Moni, mayor-elect of Khulna City Corporation and former general secretary of the Khulna District Sports Association, said that he will form a movement against any such effort to take Khulna’s floodlights to Sylhet or anywhere else across the country.
He called upon the sports organisers of Khulna to resist such a move.
Ajmol Ahmed Tapon, acting mayor and a prominent sports organiser in Khulna, reacted pointedly, saying that the people of the south-western city would never allow the BCB to take away the floodlights of SANS, even on a temporary basis.
The acting mayor went on to say that this sort of move would belittle the image of SANS, which has attained international status as the country’s seventh Test venue for world cricket.
Syed Zahid Hossain, former director of the BCB and general secretary of the KDSA, said that not just sports organisers but people from all walks of life, irrespective of political affiliation, must stand united against such action by the BCB.
The general secretary of the KDSA, Kazi Shamim Ahsan said that the BCB had no right to disgrace the people of Khulna with this kind of action.
Meanwhile, both the BCB’s media committee chairman, Jalal Yunus, and the manager of the BCB’s grounds and facilities, Syed Abdul Baten, ruled out any such move on behalf of the governing body.
-With New Age input
