Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Rs.1,000-crore investment on sports facilities planned

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Sports Minister M. Vijayakumar has told the Assembly that the State government plans to create facilities costing Rs.1,000 crore for the National Games scheduled to be held at different venues across Kerala in 2010.

Responding to a calling attention motion from V.D. Satheesan (Congress) on Monday, the Minister said the various events forming part of the National Games would be held in Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Kozhikode, Kollam, Alappuzha, Thrissur, Malappuram, Kannur and Kasaragod.

Replying to Mr. Satheesan’s contention that Kerala must be looking at an investment of Rs.1,000 crore in sports facilities in view of the poor infrastructure that the State currently had, Mr. Vijayakumar said the government was indeed looking at an investment of that order. The government had already asked the KSIDC and IL&FS to prepare a master plan for the purpose, he said.

The Sports Minister said the proposals under consideration included construction of a games village, a main stadium which can seat 50,000 spectators, a new indoor stadium at Kollam, a water sports facility at Alappuzha, a modern indoor stadium, a state-of-the art shooting range and a swimming pool in Ernakulam, a cycle velodrome in Malappuram, an international archery centre in Wayanad, a football academy at Kannur and a district sports centre at Kasaragod.

Mr. Vijayakumar said preparations were already under way for the National School Games, scheduled to be held at Kochi next month.

Responding to another calling attention motion from Mankode Radhakrishnan (CPI), Agriculture Minister Mullakkara Ratnakaran said the government was working on a comprehensive agricultural market regulation law for the State.

The draft bill was under the consideration of the Law Department and a committee had been constituted at the Secretariat for the purpose.

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