The Assembly on Tuesday passed the Kerala Sports (Amendment) Bill, amending the Kerala Sports Act, 2000 and paving the way for the setting up of a State Sports Development Fund.
The Opposition, which expressed its strong dissension to the legislation, said the Bill would totally destroy the democratic nature of the State and district-level sports councils which are intended to work for the promotion of sports and games in the State. Members came forward to protest against the provision in the Bill which allows the government to nominate members to the Sports Council while avoiding elected members, including MLAs as members.
Sports Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, in his reply, said the present government had given jobs to 445 sportspersons in the last five years. A sum of Rs.16.5 crore had been disbursed as cash awards to sports persons during this time. The government intended to set up a corpus fund for sports development with the Sports Minister chairing the board of trustees of the fund. Mr. Radhakrishnan said the government did not intend to revive the Sports Lottery. The fund will be utilised to finance training of athletes and coaches and for treatment of injured athletes.
