Kerala government on Sunday said it is interested in hosting the 6th Asian Beach Games, to be held in 2018, and sought central aid for promotion of sports in the state.
Kerala sports minister E P Jayarajan met Union Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Jitendra Singh and submitted a memorandum in this regard.
"Kerala is an ideal place to conduct the Beach Games as we have a nearly 600-km long coastline and we are waiting for the nod of the Centre and Indian Olympic Association to start the preparations," Jayarajan told reporters after meeting the the Union minister.
"We had also requested for sports incubation centres at various universities and colleges as the people in the state are sports enthusiasts and there is a need to develop the skills of youngsters," he said.
Jayarajan, who is also the Minister for Industries in state, was in New Delhi to attend the three-day Central Committee meeting of CPI(M) which will conclude on Monday.
He also met Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Kalraj Mishra and discussed about the MSME projects in the state.
Jayarajan, who submitted a memorandum requesting for more projects in the state, said the Union minister had promised all help in promoting new startup projects in Kerala.
The Minister said out of nearly 45 Public Sector Undertakings in Kerala, only 10 are profitable.
"At the end of the tenure of the last LDF government, around 18 PSUs were financially stable but now the number has come down to 10. Even the profit ratio of those has also come down. We plan to make them profitable along with creating new jobs," Jayarajan said.
On the state's mining policy, he said it will be allowed under a public sector entity only.
"It's the policy of this government that we will allow mining only under public sector undertaking. Those existing in private sector will be retained but no new private licenses will be granted," he said.
On the issue of the arrest of Akhila (30) and Anjana (25), daughters of Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) leader N Rajan, Jayarajan denied any lapses on the part of the home department in dealing with the issue.
They were arrested on a complaint by CPI(M) that they had barged into its party office and attacked one of their activists in Thalassery.
The sisters were released on bail yesterday.
"There are no lapses on part of the Home department.
The case is purely out of the narrow political interest of Congress. A case got registered and the women went to the police station and were arrested. They were presented in the court but they didn't apply for bail," he said.