Mumbai:�The opposition has cornered the Maharashtra government after the pedestal on which a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is installed at Rajkot fort, Malvan, crumbled. The incident took place within a month of installation of the new statue.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had inaugurated a new statue of Chhatrapatii Shivaji Maharaj at Rajkot fort on May 11. However, a big hole in the wall of the pedestal of the statue was found as the land under the pedestal gave way due to heavy rains. The district administration immediately took precautionary measures to contain damage.
Slamming the Mahayuti government, NCP (SP) leader Rohit Pawar said, “The state government had claimed that nothing would happen to the newly erected statue for a hundred years. But, less than a hundred days after the unveiling of the statue, the filling of the statue’s pedestal has been exhausted.”
“This raises the question of whether this government is erecting statues of great men as an idol or inspiration or just for contractors. If there is no depth to thoughts, how can we expect a strong foundation for the statue from such a government,” Pawar asked.
Now, temporary repairs will be done, but it means that this work is also of poor quality. The government should conduct a thorough investigation into this and take action against the guilty, he added.
However, PWD minister Shivendra Raje Bhosale assured that the statue is not in any danger. “The most important thing is that there is no danger to the statue or the pedestal of the statue. The soil in some areas that were filled around the statue has subsided due to heavy rain. I have given instructions for immediate repair of that place,” he said.
Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sakpal alleged that the pedestal of the statue has developed a big hole, which is a sign of poor construction quality. “If the statue has developed a hole in just a month, then this shows what the quality of the construction must be. The statue of Maharaj was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in December 2024, but the statue fell within 8 months due to huge corruption in that work. This new statue was erected after people across the state expressed immense anger. But due to corruption in this work too, the pedestal of the statue has been damaged. This clearly shows that the corrupt grand alliance has also planted the worm of corruption in the statues of great men,” said the Congress state president.
The Maharashtra government has erected a new 91-foot bronze statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, the 17th-century Maratha warrior king, at Rajkot Fort in Malvan in Sindhudurg district. Earlier, a 40-feet-tall statue of Chhatrapatii Shivaji Maharaj, which was installed at the same place and inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had collapsed in August 2024 due to poor construction. The collapse then sparked outrage among the followers of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharashtra, prompting the government to pledge a replacement.
