Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar will be the face of the Kerala government’s awareness campaign against the consumption of liquor and drugs. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan announced this at a joint press conference with the cricket legend at the Secretariat here on Wednesday.
“Addiction to liquor and drugs is a big social problem in the State. We asked Sachin whether we can use his name in our awareness campaigns... He has agreed. The details of the arrangement are to be discussed later,” Mr. Vijayan said.
Earlier, Sachin, a co-owner of the Kerala Blasters football club, visited the Chief Minister in his chamber. His wife Anjali and Telugu actors Chiranjeevi and Nagarjuna accompanied him. The actors are the new partners of Kerala Blasters. Ministers T.M. Thomas Isaac and E.P. Jayarajan were present.
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Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac and Industries Minister E.P. Jayarajan were present.
“The reason for us to visit the Chief Minister today was to make him meet the co-owners and discuss a way forward where the youngsters of the State can benefit. We have been doing this for a couple of years at the grassroots level, where we are working with 40 schools. But, we understand that the interest levels are really high. The government has agreed to back us and support us in our initiatives for the betterment of young budding sports stars from Kerala. The vision is to have a residential football academy where youngsters can shape their dreams,” said Mr. Tendulkar.
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“We want to take it to the next level and that can only happen with better infrastructure and planning. For us, the journey has begun right from when we started the discussions. But, to be able to maintain this interest level and generate 100 top-class footballers in the next five years is our aim,” he said. The government is expected to provide infrastructure support for the residential academy, while Kerala Blasters will provide the technical know-how for operations, as well as to identify and train talent.