CM approved ‘sponsor’ to carry out work at Kochi Stadium for Messi visit: Abdurahiman
Kerala Sports Minister V Abdurahiman said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan gave approval to the renovation work at the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium at Kaloor in Kochi to be carried out by a sponsor.
Kerala Sports Minister V Abdurahiman said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan gave approval to the renovation work at the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium at Kaloor in Kochi to be carried out by a sponsor.
Kerala Sports Minister V Abdurahiman said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan gave approval to the renovation work at the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium at Kaloor in Kochi to be carried out by a sponsor.
Kerala's Sports Minister V Abdurahiman has claimed Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan gave his permission to the ‘sponsor’, who owns a private broadcasting company, to carry out renovation work at the Jawaharlal Nehru International (JNI) Stadium at Kaloor in Kochi in anticipation of the visit of Lionel Messi and his Argentine football team.
Abdurahiman was addressing the media that questioned the grounds on which the sponsor was entrusted with improving the venue to FIFA standards for the friendly match proposed on November 17. "The responsibility of the work (at JNI) was with the Sports Kerala Foundation, and not the GCDA (owners of the stadium)," Minister Abdurahiman said.
"Their duty is to arrange the basic necessities for sports alone. No other state sports department in India has an engineering department for this purpose. When Manjeri hosted the Santosh Trophy, Kerala Sports Foundation was its SPV. So just like we did the work there, we took over the ground (Kochi).
"We had to finish the work within another 10 days, by at least the 30th (October). We told the sponsor to do it, and the Chief Minister himself said in a meeting that ‘let the sponsor do it’. Then came an allegation that the stadium was handed over to the sponsor. That is wrong. As he (sponsor) is spending the money, we gave some relaxations, that's all," Abdurahiman said.
The sponsor and the sports minister had announced that Argentina will play Australia in a men's football friendly in Kochi on November 17. However, the plan fell through reportedly because FIFA did not approve the venue.
The minister also said that the plan was to bring Messi and Argentina to Kochi in the next FIFA window in March. "AFA (Argentine Football Association) sent an email to the sports minister. The reason I'm not publishing that note is that we need further discussions," Abdurahiman said. Argentina will go into the next World Cup, scheduled to take place between June 11 and July 19, as the defending champions.