The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is undertaking the construction of a statue of Babasaheb Ambedkar at the Indu Mills Compound in Dadar. The foundation stone for this project was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in October 2015, although work is yet to begin.
Some are now said to be concerned about the sourcing of the materials required for this statue as most of its components such as bronze, brass, copper, and so on are imported from China. The same was done for the massive Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel statue in Gujarat which is also known as the Statue of Unity.
RPI (A) leader Ramdas Athawale, who is also the Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, met with MMRDA officials to check the progress on Babasaheb Ambedkar statue. Athawale added that officials are considering procuring most of the components locally given the COVID-19 (2019 Novel Coronavirus) outbreak in China. He also asked the authorities to meet the 2022 deadline set for the statue.
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The MMRDA has appointed contractor Shapoorji Pallonji for the construction of this statue. A spokesperson for the contractor remained fairly optimistic about importing materials from China. “We do not foresee any challenges to the schedule as we are yet to reach the procurement and construction stage.”
For those unaware, the new statue is much taller at 450 feet (previously 350 feet) and includes a 100 feet pedestal as well. This also means that the cost of the statue has gone up from Rs 709 crore to Rs 1100 crore. At this cost, the authorities are also planning to construct a library, a parking lot as well as a replica of Raigad’s popular Chavdar pond.
“We have mentioned the sort of materials needed for the statue and it is for the contractor to decide where to source them from. Now that the height has increased, we will have to analyse the impact of the wind and make changes to the design accordingly,” an MMRDA official said.
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