Smriti Vanam should be of high quality: CM

Vijayawada: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy directed the officials to ensure high quality in the works of Dr BR Ambedkar Smriti Vanam coming up at Swaraj Maidan at Vijayawada. During a review on the project held here on Thursday, the Chief Minister told them that the Ambedkar Smriti Vanam is a permanent project and the quality of work should be so high that it must bring special recognition to Vijayawada.

As part of the project, a 125-foot tall bronze statue of Dr BR Ambedkar will be installed on an 81-foot pedestal at Swaraj Maidan and will be inaugurated on April 14 on his birth anniversary. It will be made of 352 metric tonnes of steel and 112 metric tonnes of brass. A 2,000-capacity Convention Center with spacious car and bus parking facility would also form part of the project.

Reminding the officials that the convention centre is also very important, he said there should be no compromise on the quality of its works and in the material used in beautification. He directed the Smriti Vanam's special committee to review the progress periodically to ensure that the works are of good quality and completed within the stipulated time.

Officials informed him that different parts of the statue are ready for installation which would be completed step by step in 13 stages. The civil works of the project are going on at a brisk pace and the slab work would be completed by month-end, they told him.

Deputy Chief Minister (endowments) K Satyanarayana, education minister Bochaa Satyanarayana, social welfare minister Merugu Nagarjuna, municipal administration minister Audimulapu Suresh, chief secretary Dr K S Jawahar Reddy, special CS (MA and UD) Y Sri Lakshmi, planning secretary (ex-officio) G Vijayakumar, social welfare director Harshavardhan, NTR district collector S Dilli Rao, APIIC vice-chairman and MD G Srijana, Vijayawada municipal commissioner Swapnil Dinakar Pundkar and other officials were present.