Police in Maharashtra’s Sindhudurg district have registered a case against the contractor and the structural consultant of the 35-ft statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj that was unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi not even a year ago. The collapse of the statue has brought immense embarrassment for the Eknath Shinde-led state government as well as severe criticism from the opposition.
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The complaint was lodged by an assistant engineer of the Public Works Department (PWD) at Malvan police station on Monday evening. According to the complainant, the artist and the consultant were responsible for the collapse of the statue, an official said.
Based on the complaint, an FIR was registered against contractor Jaydeep Apte and structural consultant Chetan Patil over the statue collapse incident. They were booked under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections of attempt to commit culpable homicide, act endangering life or personal safety of others, attempt to murder, and cheating along with section 3 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act (mischief causing damage to public property).
The Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue, located at Rajkot fort in Malvan tehsil of Sindhudurg, collapsed around 1 pm on Monday. Meanwhile CM Shinde said that the statue was designed and constructed by the Indian Navy.
“Indian Navy notes with deep concern the damage caused this morning to the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj that was unveiled on Navy Day on 04 Dec 2023 as a dedication to the citizens of Sindhudurg. Along with the state government and concerned specialists, the Navy has deputed a team to immediately investigate the cause of this unfortunate accident and initiate steps to repair, restore and reinstate the statue at the earliest,” said the Navy on Monday.
CM Shinde said that “strong winds” caused the statue to fall. “The wind was blowing at a speed of 45km per hour, which caused the statue to fall. It is very unfortunate the statue has fallen as it was designed and built by the Navy. However, our guardian minister (Ravindra Chavan) has arrived at the spot to assess the situation, and we will rebuild this statue even stronger. Navy officials will also take part in the rebuilding efforts,” he said.
Ravindra Chavan said that the steel used in the making of the statue had rusted, causing its eventual collapse. The Maharashtra government had paid Rs 2.36 crore to the Navy for the installation of the statue but the process of identifying the artist and the design was done by Navy officials, he said.
NCP (SP) state president and former minister Jayant Patil blamed the government for the collapse of the statue, and said it paid little attention to the quality of work that had gone into the installation of the statue. His party colleague and Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule sought a probe into the “substandard construction”. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray said the statue was “completed in a haste with one eye on the Lok Sabha elections”, further blaming the Shinde government solely for the collapse. Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Vaibhav Naik also alleged poor quality of work in the construction of the structure. Meanwhile, former Rajya Sabha MP Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati posted his old letter written to the PMO on December 12 in which he had said the “statue does not look like a good artwork.”