Rs 7 lakh worth Ambedkar statue in Town hall complex still waiting for unveiling

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, May 14: The Ambedkar statue, which is covered up in blue polythene cover, in front of Town Hall, Mangalore, is still waiting for a grand unveiling. Last month, the MCC commissioner said that ‘the huge and elegant statue of Dr B R Ambedkar will be unveiled within a short period’.

The MCC officials have contemplated to install Dr B R Ambedkar’s bronze statue in front of Town Hall after the demands pour in from various organizations as well as district authorities.

Dr. Bodhisatva Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, also known as Babasaheb, is the father of the Indian Constitution. His statue is made of bronze. It is 7.5ft in height, 368kg in weight, and costs around Rs. 7 lakh.

 

Artist B. C. Shivakumar and his team comprising Manju, Murugesh Kumar, Jayaram, and Tulasiram carved this statue in Bangalore. The accessories that accompany the statue cost Rs. 3 lakhs. The artist team took 6 months to complete the statue, which happens to be the first statue of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar to be carved by this team.

Mr. Shivakumar and his team have carved around 100 statues so far. They have to their credit statues of great personalities such as Kempegowda, Dr. Rajkumar, Vishnuvardhan, Dattatreya Ramachandra Bendre, Kuvempu, Masthi Venkatesh Iyengar, U. R. Ananthamurthy, Sir M. Vishweshwarayya, and others.

The tender for the carving of the statue was called for during the tenure of Purandara Das Kuloor, the former mayor of Mangalore. Although the tender was awarded to Mani Nagappa of Tamil Nadu, he left it halfway and a re-tender was called, after which it was given to Mr. Pushparaj Shetty.