India vs Bangladesh 2nd Test: Safety measures limit ticket sales for the WTC match at Kanpur's Green Park Stadium

NEW DELHI: The Uttar Pradesh Public Works Department (PWD) has raised concerns about the safety of one of the stands at Kanpur's Green Park Stadium, just three days before the second Test match between India and Bangladesh is set to begin.
Green Park Stadium, which is owned by the Uttar Pradesh government's sports department, has not been a frequent host of international cricket in recent times.This is largely due to the superior facilities offered by the newer Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow, where the UPCA is also based.
Officials from the government have determined that the structure may be unable to support a full capacity crowd and could potentially collapse.
As a safety measure, the Balcony C stand will have less than half of its seating capacity available for ticket sales during the upcoming Test match.
“The PWD has raised some issues and we have agreed that we will not sell all the tickets of Balcony C,” said UPCA CEO Ankit Chatterjee as per Indian express.
“We have been told to sell only 1700 tickets for the stand, which has a capacity of 4,800. The repair work will continue for the next couple of days,” he added.
Engineers have identified safety concerns at the Balcony C stand of the stadium, according to officials from the Public Works Department (PWD). The assessment, which took nearly six hours on Tuesday, revealed that a large crowd in this section could pose a significant risk.
The Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) was advised to close the stand for the match scheduled to begin on Friday. PWD officials emphasized the potential danger if the area remains open to spectators.
“This stand won’t be able to take the weight of even 50 fans if they start jumping after Rishabh Pant hits a six. This part of the stadium is in dire need of repair,” a PWD engineer explained.
A meeting was held at 5 PM between Public Works Department (PWD) officers and officials from the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) near a stand. During the meeting, they agreed that the stand could not support full capacity load.
“This stadium is not directly under UPCA, and we have a clear window of 40 days before a match to get it ready. We have done our best to keep everything intact before this important World Test Championship (WTC) match,” Chatterjee stated.