A month back, a 35-foot tall statue of Maratha Empire Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj collapsed in Maharashtra’s Sindhudurg district. Now, the Maharashtra government has decided to install a new statue, double the size of the previous one, in the district. The tender for the construction of this new statue has already been floated out. Read on to know more about it.
New Shivaji Maharaj Statue To Be Installed In Maharashtra’s Sindhudurg
Maharashtra’s Public Works Department (PWD) on Tuesday floated a tender to build a new 60-foot-high statue of Shivaji Maharaj at Rajkot Fort in Sindhudurg. This comes after the 35-foot previously installed statue collapsed amid heavy rainfall and gusty winds.
As per a News18 report, this new statue will be almost double the size of the previous one. The estimated cost of this statue will be about ₹20 crore. This will include the engineering, installation, as well as maintenance work of the statue. The authorities have also set a six-month timeframe for the completion of the work. More details about this project are awaited.
What Happened To The Previous Statue?
Unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Navy Day (December 4), the 35-foot-long Shivaji Maharaj statue collapsed on August 26 this year. As per the authorities, the strong winds and torrential rainfall in the region during that time were the reason for this collapse. However, many questions were raised about the construction quality of the statue. As per reports, the statue’s sculptor, Jaydeep Apte, was also jailed for this incident.
As per Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, the previous statue had been designed and constructed by the Indian Navy. According to him, the winds were blowing at 45 km/h when the statue collapsed.
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We hope that all goes well with the construction and installation of the new Shivaji Maharaj statue in Sindhudurg.
Cover Image Courtesy: Wikimedia & Flickr (representative image)