Days before the second Test between India vs Bangladesh, the Uttar Pradesh Public Works Department (PWD) has deemed the ‘Balcony C’ of the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur to be dangerous.
The government officials observed that the structure might not be able to take the entire load of the stand and ordered to open less than half the balcony capacity for the Test match.
“The PWD has raised some issues and we have agreed that we will not sell all the tickets of Balcony C,” UPCA CEO Ankit Chatterjee told The 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.
A group of engineers from PWD spent nearly six hours at the Balcony C stand on Tuesday and advised the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) to close the stand during the match.
“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 told this paper.
Moreover, the floodlight issue at the stadium has still not been resolved since the last Test played here three years ago.
“Eight bulbs of the floodlight near the VIP pavilion are not working properly,” said a sports department officer.
“In Kanpur, visibility has always been a problem. It’s mostly because of the pollution. The last time, India failed to win the Test against New Zealand at this venue because of bad light, ironically when all the floodlights were on. Hopefully, we won’t have to go through that embarrassment again.”
