‘Unfounded rumours’: UPCA dismisses safety concerns for fans, says Kanpur’s Green Park ready for India vs Bangladesh

However, after an inspection by the Public Works Department (PWD) of Uttar Pradesh and experts from Harcourt Butler Technical University in Kanpur, the number of seats in the C balcony has come down.

“These are all unfounded rumors that there are safety concerns for fans. Given the capacity for 10,000 fans in the balcony, we have been asked to reduce the seating to 7,200 and we are not selling tickets for the remaining 2,800 seats,” UPCA venue manager Sanjay Kapoor said on Thursday.

“Even then, we managed to increase the number of seats for fans by almost 6,000 compared to the last game, now we have around 26,000 seats. UPCA has taken all possible measures to ensure the safety of fans; We have also ensured that 3,000 school children can watch the game every day,” said Kapoor.

He also said that there was no problem with the floodlights. “The floodlights are working properly, everything has been checked properly and we are also prepared for the bad weather conditions here,” added Kapoor.

The stadium, which was founded in 1945 and hosted the first-ever Test between India and England in 1952, has hosted 23 Tests so far. The previous capacity was 32,000 seats, but as the stadium has been renovated over the years the number of seats has decreased.

“We are leaving no stone unturned to make this test a grand success,” said Kapoor, also a former chief of the All India Chess Federation (AICF).