KOZHIKODE:
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan today said that the aim of the State Government is to establish one playground in each ward. He was inaugurating the state-of-the-art Cyber Sports Arena built at Kozhikode Government Cyberpark through video conferencing as part of promoting IT, sports and fitness among Cyberpark employees.
The Chief Minister said that the government’s comprehensive sports policy is ready, which puts special emphasis on the healthcare of the people of Kerala.
Though the policy envisages one playground in each panchayat, the Chief Minister said the government plans to establish one playground in each ward. The state will also create a sports economy to improve infrastructure in the sports sector, providing world-class sports facilities, he said.
He said that the healthcare of IT employees is very important and lauded the efforts of Kozhikode Cyberpark in establishing the Sports Arena.
It is reported that India’s IT exports will touch $350 billion in the next two years, and the report prepared by the MSME high-powered committee says that Kerala will play an important role. To achieve this goal, it is estimated that five lakh jobs will be created in the IT sector, the Chief Minister said.
IT Parks have a major role to play in the growth of the software sector in Kerala. In 2016, the number of IT employees in Kerala was 90,000 and today, it has grown by more than 80 per cent to reach 1,70,000. The government is making all efforts to increase the share of Kerala to 10 per cent of the country’s total IT exports, Pinarayi Vijayan said.
When the Technology Innovation Zone in Kochi becomes fully operational, it will be Asia’s largest tech innovation centre. The centre of excellence in the aerospace sector set up by K-Space in Thiruvananthapuram will soon become a reality.
He pointed out that as part of attracting national and international IT companies to the State, IT parks are equipped with land, buildings, smart business centres, infrastructure and ancillary facilities. There are around two crore square feet of land available in Kerala under the IT parks directly and through other entrepreneurs.
The Thiruvananthapuram Technocity will have comprehensive facilities, including working and living spaces, shopping malls, hospitals and educational institutions. Twenty small 5G IT parks will come up along the national highway from Kannur to Thiruvananthapuram, he added.
The Sports Arena consists of two fives football turfs of 1017 square feet each, one 2035 sq ft sevens football turf, a basketball turf of 640 square feet and two doubles shuttle badminton courts.
Ahammed Devarkovil, MLA, presided over the function. Dr Rathan U Kelkar, Secretary, Electronics and IT, Dr Beena Philip, Mayor, Sureshkumar T, ward councillor, Radhakrishnan P, Olavanna panchayat member and Susanth Kurunthil, CEO, Cyberpark and Infopark, participated.
