KOCHI: The Kerala Budget has paid tribute to a couple of living as well as late sports legends. Rome Olympics veteran O. Chandrasekharan and former India captain I.M. Vijayan are among the sports personalities, who'll have indoor stadiums named after them. Chandrasekharan, a former defender who was part of the iconic Indian football team that participated in the 1960 Games, will have a multi-purpose indoor stadium in his name in Ernakulam. Thrissur will have a stadium named after another living legend, Vijayan.
Indoor stadiums named after Olympian Suresh Babu, Olympian Rahman, K. Udayakumar, Blesson George, Thomas Sebastian, K.P. Thomas, K.K. Prema-chandran, P. Moitheen Kutty, C.K. Omkarana-than, Jimmy George and M.R.C. Krishnan are proposed in other 12 districts. The budget has allocated Rs 500 crore, to be availed from the stimulus package, for the purpose.
Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac, in his budget speech claimed that the government would restart work on the volleyball academy named after veteran coach Kalavoor Gopinath that was proposed in 2011. The academy is suggested at the Udayakumar memorial stadium, and Rs 50 lakh is envisaged. Further infrastructure development, in the form of mini-stadiums, has been promised at 25 panchayats.
The allocation for the project is Rs 135 crores, out of which Rs 125 crore will be equally split, while Municipal Stadium in Adoor and Jawahar Stadium in Kannur will receive additional Rs 5 crore each. The stimulus package will again be raided to the tune of Rs 30 crore, for basic infrastructure development in G.V. Raja Sports School and Ayyankali Sports School, in Kannur. The government has projected an expense of Rs 50 crore for the purpose, this fiscal. In addition, Rs 31 crore and Rs 32 crore are allocated for the state sports council and the sports directorate respectively.
