State government's Republic Day celebration is likely to be held at the Khanapara Veterinary College Ground instead of Latasil playground

GUWAHATI: This year, the state government's Republic Day celebration is likely to be held at the Khanapara Veterinary College Ground instead of Latasil playground with the Gauhati high court asking the state government to make its stand clear on the issue by January 9.

In January, 2011, Pulin Das and 13 others of the Latasil area, in a writ petition (224/11), prayed to the high court to protect the Latasil playground. The petitioners demanded shifting of Republic Day and Independence Day celebrations from Latasil to a different site and said the playground should be used only for sports.

The single-bench court, on Tuesday in a hearing of the case, asked the state government to make its stand clear on the matter. "The state government is going to come up with a reply on Monday," said additional advocate of Assam government Devajit Saikia.

A source said the state government has already decided to shift the celebrations to Khanapara veterinary college ground. However, it's still awaiting security clearance. "We have already chosen the Khanapara ground. But the home department is yet to give us the green light. Security is the main concern in the case," said a top official.

Save Guwahati Build Guwahati (SGBG), a civil society group, on Wednesday reposed faith in the judiciary and said the high court would surely give a judgment in favour of the playground.

"We have been praying to chief minister Tarun Gogoi for the last two years to stop Republic Day and Independence Day celebrations. Whenever the government uses the playground for such purposes, it stops all sports activities there for at least a month. Besides, the ground also gets damaged because of temporary structures which are set up for such occasions," said SGBG president Dhiren Baruah.

The state government, in a reply to the SGBG prayer earlier, said the Latasil playground would be used for Republic Day and Independence Day celebrations temporarily and that it would soon fix a different venue.