Thiruvananthapuram | The Kerala government on Wednesday launched a project for reviving the sports culture in the State by opening quality playgrounds in every panchayat of the southern state.

The 'One Panchayat, One Playground' project was inaugurated by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at Kallikkad here where he said that a good sports culture was essential for building a healthy and happy society.

The playgrounds would serve as a hub of local gatherings and social interactions. "It is with this goal in mind that the 'One Panchayat, One Playground' project has been devised," the Chief Minister said at the event.

The project will address the lack of quality playgrounds in around 450 local bodies in the State, Vijayan said.

Within three years, the playgrounds will be built and for the first phase of the project, a list of 113 panchayats has been prepared, the Chief Minister said.

Each playground would cost around Rs one crore, half of which would be footed by the Sports department and the rest would be raised from the MLA and local body funds, through CSR, public private partnerships, etc, he said.

Vijayan said that first it would be ascertained which sports facilities are needed in a panchayat and then steps would be taken to provide that. Besides the playcourts, there will also be other facilities such as walkways and open gyms, the Chief Minister said.