Seven months on, NSTU athletes still deprived of prizes over budget shortfall

Sazid Khan, NSTU Correspondent:

Seven months have passed since the annual sports competition of Noakhali Science and Technology University (NSTU) for the 2024–25 session, but victorious athletes are yet to receive their awards due to an alleged lack of budget allocation.

The competition, held from January 8 this year, saw participation from both students and faculty members. Around 15 events, including track, high jump, and other sports were held over a month-long period. Results were announced informally soon after, but prize distribution never took place.

Many participants expressed frustration, saying their repeated visits to the Department of Physical Education yielded no results. The department reportedly referred them to NSTU Treasurer Prof.Dr. Muhammad Hanif, but even after contacting him, no progress was made.

JahedulHaque, a student from the BGE department who secured first place in three events, said, “We practiced for a month for the January competition. But the university claims they don’t have the budget for small prizes. Whenever I went to the Physical Education Department, they sent me to the treasurer. The treasurer then told me to bring in the department officials. This is a farce in the sports sector. Why arrange competitions if you cannot value the winners?”

Deputy Director of the Department of Physical Education, Sanjib Kumar Dey, said, “We could not distribute the prizes because we did not receive any budget. We requested allocation from the administration, but they said the time had expired. Although we sent a formal request after the competition started, we never received the budget.”

Acting Director of the department, Prof. Md. RuhulKabir, who joined last week, said, “It is not acceptable that the prizes have not been distributed after so many months. We will review the matter and discuss possible solutions.”

The NSTU Treasurer could not be reached for comment over the phone.

Vice-Chancellor Prof.Dr. Muhammad Ismail said, “There were some shortages and irregularities in the budget, so allocation was not possible. I will discuss the matter with the new head of the department. If there are pending dues in this sector, we are trying to cover them in the new budget.”