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Giant Ambedkar statue project faces roadblock in Hyderabad
The proposal to install world’s tallest statue of BR Ambedkar in the city has hit a road block as the State government is finding it difficult to acquire the required 25 acres of land on the banks of Hussainsagar.
Hyderabad: The proposal to install world’s tallest statue of BR Ambedkar in the city has hit a road block as the State government is finding it difficult to acquire the required 25 acres of land on the banks of Hussainsagar.
The Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has announced the installation of 125-feet high Ambedkar statue and a big memorial park on the sprawling 20 acres of land at amusement park and NTR gardens abutting the State Secretariat in April 2016.
The government also constituted a committee headed by Deputy Chief Minister K Srihari, other Ministers and top officials. Senior officials of the Schedule Caste (SC) Development Department, which has been entrusted to take up the project, told The Hans India that the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) has expressed its inability to handover about 20 acres of land because the land was given on lease to private agencies for the establishment of the amusement park. Since the authority entered into agreements with the agencies with regard to the utilisation of the land, it would not be possible to take back the lands immediately as it will lead to legal complications.
The HMDA also informed the committee in the recent meeting that nearly 1,500 people would lose their livelihoods once the park is removed from the existing place which was one of the important tourist destination which attracts lots of people in Hyderabad.
The Officials said that the authority also cautioned the government that the establishment of a giant statue on the banks of Hussainsagar would attract the violation of the environmental norms set by the Centre. The committee held several meetings with HMDA for the last one year and the authority was giving same reply on the land issue.
Sensing the CM’s project would delay further, the committee explored two other places – People’s Plaza at Necklace Road and two acres of land next to Prasad Imax Theatre. But the government was not interested to install the statue at these two places as the availability of land was small.
Due to delay in finding suitable land, the committee also failed to finalise the design for the statue and the proposed Ambedkar museum as planned by the Chief Minister. The Officials said the only option to fasten process for the project is Chief Minister’s intervention to address the pending land acquirement issue. The Chief Minister put the target for the completion of the project by Ambedkar’s next birthday on April 14, 2018. But the proposal still remains on the papers.
