KASARGOD: After kicking him around for a year and a half, the state government has sanctioned Rs 15 lakh to help build a house for footballer KP Rahul.
In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Sports Minister E P Jayarajan said the government allocated the money to the midfielder from the Sports Development Fund. The government made the promise of a plot, house and job when Rahul and his team helped Kerala lift the Santosh Trophy in April 2018 after a gap of 14 years.
On July 8, Express front-paged the plight of the midfielder, who lives with his 70-year-old grandmother Narayani in a dilapidated shed, wrapped with tarpaulin, in Padna.
Rahul had said he made the rounds of the Padna Village office at least 15 times to get what was promised to him. Despite the collector’s order, the village office could not find a plot.
Rahul is now in Chennai attending the trial camp for Chennaiyin FC. If selected, he would be playing in the Indian Super League (ISL). Rahul, he said he was happy the government took a positive step. “I got a call from the office of the minister today and the official said the house will be ready by December,” Rahul said. The minister in the Facebook post said the District Sports Council (DSC) had been given the responsibility to build the house.
DSC president Habeeb Rahiman said, “It’s a great responsibility to us. We’ll do it with pleasure and make it (the house) a reality within the stipulated time.”The government had also promised jobs to the members of the team which lifted the Santosh Trophy, defeating West Bengal. Jayarajan said that promise also would be kept and the process to provide them jobs was in the last phase.
He said the government had also built a house of Manuel Frederick, the hockey player from Kannur.
He won a bronze medal at the 1972 Olympics in Munich. Frederick is the only Keralite to win an Olympic medal in field hockey. “The house was handed over to him on June 29,” the minister said.
AT A GLANCE
● Minister E P Jayarajan said Rs 15 lakh sanctioned from Sports Development Fund to build house
● District Sports Council given responsibility to see through the project
● Rahul said an official from the minister’s office said the house would be ready by December
● Express had published an article on the plight of Rahul on July 8
● The midfielder helped Kerala lift the Santosh Trophy in April 2018, after a 14-year wait
