The visiting ICC venue inspection team was greeted with a sledgehammer in Cox’s Bazar on Tuesday, as a local administrator chose the day to pursue her business interests.
Witnesses said Nasima Akter, the vice-chairperson of the Sadar Upzilla, took the sledgehammer to some of the structures that housed construction workers at the proposed 2014 World Twenty20 tournament venue.
Nasima claimed that she had paid Tk 14,20,000 to lease a lake inside the golf course for fish cultivation for two years and had invested a further Tk 20,90,000 in the project.
The lease expires on November 30.
Nasima demanded compensation of Tk 35 lakh from the tourism corporation and said it was decided in an inter-ministerial meeting on July 11 that the BCB would pay the compensation.
‘I invested a lot of money in the project but could hardly profit from it,’ Nasima said in an impromptu press conference.
The incident happened at 11:00am, hours before the ICC team landed at the beach town to inspect the construction of the venue, which is supposed to host the ICC women’s World Twenty20.
The ICC had already expressed its concern over the venue and BCB officials in Dhaka said the incident will cast a dark shadow on the venue’s prospects.
The BCB will have to hand the venue over to the ICC by October or shift the women’s tournament to the alternate venue at the BKSP.
-With New Age input
