The Assembly committee for sports and youth affairs has proposed the establishment of a national sports coaching centre at the Sports Complex at Mundayad here.
Speaking to reporters here on Thursday after visiting the sports facilities in the district including the indoor stadium at Mundayad and the Kannur Sports Division hostel and hearing proposals and grievances from stakeholders, the panel chairman T.V. Rajesh, MLA, said that of the total 17 acres of land of the Sports Complex, only three acres were utilised for the indoor stadium. The committee would recommend to the government to construct a hostel there with modern facilities.
Apart from the committee chairman, other panel members and MLAs, K. Rajan, K.S. Sabarinathan, Hibi Eden, R. Rajesh and I.B. Satheeshan also visited the facilities.
ADVERTISEMENT
District Collector Mir Mohammed Ali attended the committee’s hearing at the Collectorate Conference Hall here.
The chairman said that the committee would recommend to the government to convert the Kannur Sports Division attached to the Kannur Government Higher Secondary School here into a full-fledged sports school modelled on the G.V. Raja Sports School at Aruvikkara. The committee noted that the Sports Division here is under the Education Department and not under the Directorate of Sports and Youth Affairs, he said.
The panel also took note of the pathetic condition of the Sports Hostel for Sports Division here. As the hostel has no facility to accommodate all 191 girl students there, 40 of them have been shifted to the nearby Yatri Nivas. Each room having the facility to accommodate four persons now has 14, he said and added that of the 20 toilets at hostel, only nine can be used.
ADVERTISEMENT
The training facility of the Sports Division at the school is in a dilapidated condition, the committee noted.
For the athletic training, the division has only one trainer instead of four, it found. It has no trainer for basketball, football, volleyball and taekwondo. Though Rs. 1 crore has been sanctioned for the construction of the new hostel, the works are still incomplete, Mr. Rajesh said. The panel proposed a vehicle for conveying the students from the hostel to the school.
The committee also wanted a new building to upgrade the Adventure Academy on the Muzhappilangad Beach here into a full-fledged facility. The committee chairman said that the panel received complaints about non-payment of prize money by the Youth Welfare Board.
The panel would ask the government to examine the cause of the non-release of the funds to the local bodies, Mr. Rajesh informed. It would also recommend to the government to rejuvenate the youth clubs to give a new impetus to Keralotsavam. The panel would also urge the government to clear backlog of vacancies to be filled from the sports quota.