2024-05-03 23:50:05
Tamim Iqbal was walking towards his car after Prime Bank Cricket Club’s game in Dhaka League at BKSP. A few groundsmen followed. Tamim did not notice, got into the car. After getting up, came to Tamim’s attention. Lower the glass and talk to them. Abdar is the only one, ‘some bonus’ before Eid. Tamim did not disappoint.
At the same time, Shakib Al Hasan also hit the headlines with the groundsmen’s bonus. Not only that, it is a regular occurrence to give bonuses to the groundsmen like Shakib-Mushfiq-Tamim at the end of international series, domestic tournaments. This amount is equivalent to a mountain of money that the groundsmen who work for Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on a low salary get from time to time. It brings a smile to their faces. Flowers of joy spread.
12 people work as Head Groundsmen in BCB. Based on experience, they get a salary of 18,000 to 24,000 taka. There are 60 permanent groundsmen. They get a minimum salary of 14 thousand and a maximum of 18 thousand 500 taka.
Three times as many as permanent, 169 groundsmen work on master roles and on temporary basis. Groundsmen working in temporary roles get minimum salary of 11 thousand rupees and maximum salary of 13 thousand rupees. The minimum-maximum salary is determined based on experience and work.
Groundsmen keep the field ready for play by working tirelessly day and night in scorching sun, wet with rain or severe winter. But recently several skilled groundsmen have left the job due to low pay. Some engage in other professions hoping for a better life. Lack of adequate facilities is the major reason behind skilled groundsmen leaving the job. BCB’s grounds department is shaken by their ‘loss’. They have taken the initiative to increase the salary quickly. Policies have also been made. The Finance Department is now investigating.
BCB grounds committee chairman Mahbub Anam said in a presentation at the last board meeting, ‘Some skilled groundsmen have left the BCB job due to low pay. The salary of skilled groundsmen should be increased to reduce the attrition rate.’
Mahbub Anam proposed to increase the salary of the groundsmen. After reviewing the document, it has been proposed to increase the salary of head groundsmen from 7 to 11 thousand rupees, the salary of permanent groundsmen from 2 thousand to 3.5 thousand rupees and the salary of groundsmen working on temporary basis by 2 thousand rupees.
After the recommendation, the board decided to scrutinize the salary structure of the groundsmen to BCB’s finance committee. When asked to speak to some of the groundsmen working permanently and temporarily, they said they were unable to. Only one told this reporter on the phone, ‘Our salary will be increased, our work is to prepare the field, we are doing that, I can’t say anything more.’
Incidentally, one of the 13 points that the cricketers called for a strike in 2019 was to pay fair wages to those involved in field maintenance. Lawyer Mostafizur Rahman, acting as the spokesperson of the cricketers, while highlighting this point, said that in the past few months, 16 groundsmen have removed themselves from this profession due to lack of finances.
RisingBD tried to contact Mahbub Anam to find out about the low wages of groundsmen and initiatives to increase wages. However, the Chairman of the Grounds Department did not respond to this. Similarly, an attempt was made with Abdul Baten, manager of the grounds department, but he also did not respond in this regard.