Silchar DSA's effort to reopen the SM Dev Stadium takes a blow; District Administration denies permission

The Silchar District Sports Association’s (DSA) effort to reopen the Satindra Mohan Dev Stadium has taken a huge blow. The Cachar District Administration has decided not to reopen the SM Dev Stadium from Sunday. Whereas, the DSA Secretary, Bijendra Prasad Singh has been recently quoted saying that the unlock process of the Silchar DSA will start from July 18, which is on Sunday. According to him, the training of the cricket academy of the DSA was supposed to start from Sunday. In addition, the DSA’s stadium was to be opened to the public for morning walks and exercise as well. The Secretary also said that the stadium would be open from six to ten in the morning. But it doesn’t seem possible as of now.

Bijendra Prasad Singh had a discussion with the Assam Cricket Association (ACA) Secretary Devjit Saikia on Saturday morning about starting training for the cricket academy above the 14 age group. Although Devjit Saikia had given clearance for the opening of the academy on behalf of the ACA, he advised seeking the opinion of the district administration on the whole matter. Accordingly, the Silchar DSA Secretary had discussed the matter with the Cachar DC Keerthi Jalli. And the Deputy Commissioner said that she had spoken with Dispur officials about this matter. And considering the situation, requested to postpone reopening of the stadium or start of the academy coaching as of now.

As a result, following the advice of the Deputy Commissioner, the Silchar DSA is postponing the plan to reopen the stadium or the academy from Sunday. If the district administration gives the green signal later, perhaps then something else could be chalked out, said Bijendra, Secretary of the association.

As a result, the Silchar DSA’s plan to come back to normalcy has taken a backseat as of now. The local sporting community was hoping that the opening of the stadium gates from Sunday would go a long way in returning to normalcy. With that, once again a sporting atmosphere would’ve been recreated. The future of indoor games was also involved in the restart process of the DSA. It was anticipated then that the situation would be reviewed at the end of this month after the reopening of the cricket academy. If the situation gets normal, it would’ve been possible to start the badminton and table tennis academy in the first week of August. But without the permission of the district administration, the sporting community will have to wait a bit longer perhaps.