Corporation level Keralotsavam to kickoff Dec 2

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Corporation level Keralotsavam which will kick off on Friday has a new introduction this time. For a change, the City Corporation has organised a 20-20 cricket tournament for the cricket enthusiasts in the city. It will be held at the Poojappura grounds for three days starting Friday.The Keralotsavam is organised jointly by the Youth Welfare Board and local bodies and is open to the citizens between the age of 15 to 35. Under Keralotsavam, art, sports and aquatic competitions will be held. “We thought of organising twenty-twenty for the first time since it has big fans here. Many cricket clubs and residents associations have appreciated the move,” said Welfare Standing Committee chairperson of the Corporation, Palayam Rajan. According to him, seven teams have already got their names registered with the Corporation Keralotsavam organising committee. They are mostly clubs and teams formed by residents associations. The matches will kick off at the Poojappura grounds on Friday morning. The Corporation expects the support of the Kerala Cricket Association to hold the matches, mainly the service of umpires. The art competitions which includes music, instruments, dance, folk arts, painting and the like would be held at the Cotton Hill Girls Higher Secondary school and the sports items would be held at Central stadium. The aquatic competitions would be held at the swimming pool at Karumam. While the Youth Welfare Board gives a financial assistance of Rs 20,000 the Corporation mobilises an amount of Rs 10,000 from its own fund and the rest is organised through sponsorships. This time, the Corporation has bagged many sponsors to fund the food kits which would be given at the venues to the participants. The Corporation-level Keralotsavam, unlike in panchayats, receive lukewarm response and has been widely neglected by councillors too. However, by adding new items, the Corporation expects to evoke more response to the event from the citizens. The inauguration of the Keralotsavam will be done by Olympian Bobby Aloysius. The valediction function, where the winners will be given away awards, would be held at the Gandhi Park on Sunday which will be inaugurated by Transport Minister V S Sivakumar.