CM Conrad Sangma Refutes Report Claiming P.A. Sangma Stadium in Tura Is Unsafe
Addressing the media, the Chief Minister said that a section of the press had wrongly stated that the DDMA had termed the entire stadium unsafe. “The statement published in one of the newspapers is absolutely incorrect and misleading.
Tura | Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma on Saturday strongly denied a newspaper report that claimed the newly constructed P.A. Sangma Stadium in Tura had been declared unsafe by the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), calling the report “completely incorrect and misinterpreted.”
Addressing the media, the Chief Minister said that a section of the press had wrongly stated that the DDMA had termed the entire stadium unsafe. “The statement published in one of the newspapers is absolutely incorrect and misleading. I urge the press fraternity to do proper research before making such claims,” Sangma said. He clarified that the issue pertains only to the west stand area, where an old retaining wall—constructed long before the current stadium project—had collapsed earlier. “That retaining wall was not part of the new P.A. Sangma Stadium construction. It was an old structure that failed,” he explained. Following the collapse, the state government decided to take up the reconstruction work. The Chief Minister said that ₹45 crore has already been sanctioned for the project, tenders have been floated, and work will begin shortly. Sangma added that additional land is required from Coal India, which owns the property behind the stadium near the BSF area. “We need that land to extend the west stand and also to build a road for hundreds of families living in the locality below. The DDMA wrote to Coal India to highlight the urgency and seriousness of the matter,” he said. He stressed that the DDMA’s communication was meant to underline the need for land allocation and construction of the west stand — not to declare the entire stadium unsafe. “It was never about the overall safety of the stadium structure. It has been wrongly interpreted,” the Chief Minister said. The Sports Department, he added, will issue a formal clarification. He also cautioned the media against publishing unverified information. “Irresponsible reporting only creates unnecessary doubt and damages the credibility of the news agency itself,” Sangma concluded.
