Koshi Province Sports Development Board Fully Constituted After Eight Months

Biratnagar. The Koshi Province Sports Development Board, which has been without leadership for about eight months, has finally been fully constituted. The government has appointed 11 office bearers and members, including the member secretary, based on the political power-sharing between the province's two major ruling alliance parties, CPN (UML) and Nepali Congress.

Social Development Minister Ram Prasad Mahato appointed the board members late Wednesday night, with 5 from UML and 6 from Congress. The government recently issued the 'Province Sports (First Amendment) Ordinance-2083' to manage party cadres, significantly increasing the number of board members.

Criticism has also begun regarding the ordinance, which has made the board 'jumbo'. According to the new arrangement, Biplav Ghosh of Sunsari, close to UML, has been appointed as the board's member secretary. Ghosh, a central secretary of the Nepal Sports Federation, is a former national karate player.

He has been organizing the 'Madan Bhandari (MM) Cup' international one-day cricket tournament annually in Sunsari.

Similarly, according to the amended act, the board has two vice-chairpersons. Santoshi Shrestha of Biratnagar from UML has been appointed as the women's vice-chairperson, and Basanta Aryal from Nepali Congress as the men's vice-chairperson. Aryal is a former general secretary of the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA). Previously, the board had only one vice-chairperson.

Bina Basnet, Keshav Bhattarai, and Kishor Bikram Shahi have been appointed as board members from UML.

Similarly, Tikaram Puri, Roshani Rai, Durga Kathayat, Bishwaraj Rai, and Baljit Rai have become members from the Congress quota. According to ministry sources, the government is preparing to add a few more members to maintain political balance.

The board had been without leadership since the term of the then member-secretary Krishna Basnet (Parshuram) ended on Bhadra 25. The appointment process was stalled for a long time due to disagreements between the parties and political இழுபறி, causing the province's overall sports activities to come to a near standstill.

Due to the lack of leadership, the district-level 'President Running Shield' competition for players selected by local levels had also become uncertain. The ministry stated that the term of the new leadership will be four years, effective from Jestha 13, 2083.