Assistant Engineer Malvan Division had shot off a warning letter to the Indian Navy's Area Coastal Security Officer Commander Abhishek Karbhari on the precarious condition of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue which crashed on August 26 in the Fort Rajkot at Maharashtra's Sindhudurg district, officials said on Tuesday.
Besides PWD, the 13th direct descendent of the legendary Maratha warrior king, Chhatrapati Yuvraj Chhatrapati had also red-flagged the statue's design, and how it was erected in 'haste' for the unveiling by on December 4, 2023.
A PWD letter (August 20, 2024) forewarned that the nuts-bolts that were used to join the pieces in the metal statue - designed and created by Kalyan (Thane) sculptor Jaydeep Apte – had rusted and corroded due to the twin effects of the monsoon and the salty air from the Arabian Sea.
As a result of these, the Chhatrapati's statue was looking ugly, attracting criticism from the locals, public representatives and hordes of tourists trooping there.
The PWD urged Navy Commander Karbhari to take up the matter at his level with the sculptor to work out a permanent solution to the problems on top priority, but the cautionary went unheeded.
The missive added that in June – barely six months after the statue was unveiled – Apte had gone there and carried out certain repair works on the structure.
Locals had also frowned at the quality of the statue as the work order for the CSM statue was issued on September 8, 2023 and it was unveiled after barely 85 days.
Speaking to a local Marathi publication last year, sculptor Apte indicated that normally such a statue would have taken three years to make, but he managed to complete it in barely six months.
An official of the Sindhudurg Collectorate said that the main Chhatrapati statue made of bronze is 28 feet tall, erected on a 10-feet high pedestal which is situated more than 12-15 feet above the ground level, and shows the Maratha warrior-king in a classic attack pose, wearing an angry countenance with his sword held high in the right hand.
"Apparently, owing to its total height from the road level, standing on an open pedestal, the gusty winds blowing during monsoon, the salt-laden moist air attacking it all through the year and normal wear-and-tear, took its toll and it may have collapsed," the official said requesting anonymity.
Sindhudurg Collector Kishor Tawade informed that the state PWD Minister Ravindra Chavan visited the site late on Monday evening, and held discussions with all concerned.
"The causes of the crash shall be probed and then a decision will be taken on the next measures to be taken to restore the statue to its original position and glory," Tawade told IANS.
In a terse statement late on Monday, the Navy said that it had sent a team to immediately investigate the cause of the unfortunate accident, initiate steps to repair, restore and reinstate the statue at the earliest.
The Chief Minister Shinde government was at a loss for words at the huge embarrassment as it attempted a damage control and fend off a brutal attack by the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi allies Congress, NCP(SP), Shiv Sena (UBT), the Chhatrapati's descendants as also Maratha leader Manoj Jarange-Patil, with the Maharashtra Assembly elections looming on the horizon.
Sensing the government's mood, Yuvraj Chhatrapati has called for scientifically rebuilding the statue at the same spot, while sounding a warning that "in the zeal to build it before the elections, we should not make any trouble again".
Taking a jibe at the ruling Mahayuti regime, NCP (SP) President Sharad Pawar cited several examples of statues standing tall for decades while the one built barely a year ago fell, and said, "This is our contribution of 70 years."
Commenting on the debacle in the Saamana Group of publications, the SS(UBT) vowed that the MVA would 'bury' those who brought down the statue of the state's revered icon due to blatant corruption and inefficiency.
(With inputs from IANS)
