Former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Bengaluru: A bronze statue of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, which is being installed near the Mantri Square metro station, is estimated to cost Rs 1.11 crore.
The new statue is going to replace the concrete one. Called the Subhash Nagar Junction or Rajiv Gandhi square, the busy intersection partly falls under the Gandhinagar assembly constituency.
While Subhash Nagar is one among the 25 junctions taken up for development works under the 15th Finance Commission programme, the cost of the seven-metre statue will be met by the BBMP using its own funds.
Officials said that a concrete statue, which was previously installed at the junction a long time ago, was removed to undertake development works. "We are installing a bronze one now," an official said. The work — entrusted to the Traffic Engineering Cell of the Palike — has been awarded to Kalyan Infra Projects, who was the single bidder.
The work, however, received flak just after the BBMP floated the tenders in mid-2023.
In a tweet, Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya had criticised the move, stating the Congress government in Karnataka has no funds for development but has all funds available to please their political masters even if it means insulting our land and culture.
Deccan Herald is on WhatsApp Channels | Join now for Breaking News & Editor's Picks