UP government races to restore Mayawati's pride
28 July 2012 9:19 AM GMT
The Uttar Pradesh government was hurriedly restoring a life-sized statue of former chief minister Mayawati on Friday to replace the one vandalised the day before. A replica of the marble statue of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief was found at the Sangeet Natak Academy (SNA) in Gomtinagar late Thursday and the administration got down to restoring it at 1.30 a.m. itself.
District officials said they found an exact replica of the statue broken Thursday. But the work would be completed only by Friday noon, an official said. District Magistrate Anurag Yadav said restoration work had been taken up and the sculptor, Sharawan Prajapati, had been requisitioned. No time was wasted. Cranes were pressed into service midnight to lift the defunct statue, which was to be initially used at the Manyavar Kanshiram Eco garden on Jail Road. It was not done due to a stay by the Supreme Court. The new statue is of the same height and weighs 750 kg. The restoration work has saved the district administration around Rs 15 lakh, an official said. When Prajapati inspected the broken statue he told officials that it was impossible to repair it because of the extent of damage inflicted on it.
He said the statue was of very high grade marble and hence would have to be done all over again. Detailing the events, an official said the government was informed of the dilemma following which a hunt was ordered for a replica that was luckily found a few kilometres away.
Four unidentified vandals Thursday afternoon damaged the statue, which was placed in the sprawling Ambedkar Park. It was damaged in the head, arm and neck. Protests erupted in many parts of the state following the desecration, including in Muzaffarnagar, Jhansi and Ambedkarnagar, with BSP supporters and workers taking to the streets and raising anti-SP slogans.
BSP DEMANDS PREZ RULE IN UP
Lucknow: Demanding imposition of President's rule in the state, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Friday alleged that jungle raj prevailed in Uttar Pradesh and the Akhilesh Yadav government has no control on the officials.
The party has also demanded that armed security personnel should be deployed at all the memorials, parks and statues in the state.
The BSP leaders met the state governor B L Joshi and apprised him of the bad law and order situation in the state which led to the desecration of the marble statue of former chief minister Mayawati at Ambedkar Samajik and Parivartan Sthal.
In a memorandum to the governor here BSP leaders said that the guilty youths, alleged to be the sympathizer of the ruling party, were still at large and the government was making no effort to arrest them.
''There is a total anarchy in the state and it is a fit case for recommendation of President's rule in the state,'' leader of the opposition in the State Legislative Council Nasimuddin Siddiqui told reporters.
He said that there is no rule of law in the state and the goons are having a field day in the state.
Leader of the opposition in the state assembly Swami Prasad Maurya too criticised the government and said that it seems that there was no government at all in the state.
''We have asked the governor to direct the state government to deploy armed police to guard all the parks, memorials and statues. Besides the youths involved in the crime should be punished,'' he said.
The BSP delegation included state president Ramachal Rajbhar along with several MPs and MLAs.
Yesterday the leaders also sat on dharna before the assembly but they withdrew it after the authorities erected a fresh statue of Mayawati last night.
District officials said they found an exact replica of the statue broken Thursday. But the work would be completed only by Friday noon, an official said. District Magistrate Anurag Yadav said restoration work had been taken up and the sculptor, Sharawan Prajapati, had been requisitioned. No time was wasted. Cranes were pressed into service midnight to lift the defunct statue, which was to be initially used at the Manyavar Kanshiram Eco garden on Jail Road. It was not done due to a stay by the Supreme Court. The new statue is of the same height and weighs 750 kg. The restoration work has saved the district administration around Rs 15 lakh, an official said. When Prajapati inspected the broken statue he told officials that it was impossible to repair it because of the extent of damage inflicted on it.
He said the statue was of very high grade marble and hence would have to be done all over again. Detailing the events, an official said the government was informed of the dilemma following which a hunt was ordered for a replica that was luckily found a few kilometres away.
Four unidentified vandals Thursday afternoon damaged the statue, which was placed in the sprawling Ambedkar Park. It was damaged in the head, arm and neck. Protests erupted in many parts of the state following the desecration, including in Muzaffarnagar, Jhansi and Ambedkarnagar, with BSP supporters and workers taking to the streets and raising anti-SP slogans.
BSP DEMANDS PREZ RULE IN UP
Lucknow: Demanding imposition of President's rule in the state, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Friday alleged that jungle raj prevailed in Uttar Pradesh and the Akhilesh Yadav government has no control on the officials.
The party has also demanded that armed security personnel should be deployed at all the memorials, parks and statues in the state.
The BSP leaders met the state governor B L Joshi and apprised him of the bad law and order situation in the state which led to the desecration of the marble statue of former chief minister Mayawati at Ambedkar Samajik and Parivartan Sthal.
In a memorandum to the governor here BSP leaders said that the guilty youths, alleged to be the sympathizer of the ruling party, were still at large and the government was making no effort to arrest them.
''There is a total anarchy in the state and it is a fit case for recommendation of President's rule in the state,'' leader of the opposition in the State Legislative Council Nasimuddin Siddiqui told reporters.
He said that there is no rule of law in the state and the goons are having a field day in the state.
Leader of the opposition in the state assembly Swami Prasad Maurya too criticised the government and said that it seems that there was no government at all in the state.
''We have asked the governor to direct the state government to deploy armed police to guard all the parks, memorials and statues. Besides the youths involved in the crime should be punished,'' he said.
The BSP delegation included state president Ramachal Rajbhar along with several MPs and MLAs.
Yesterday the leaders also sat on dharna before the assembly but they withdrew it after the authorities erected a fresh statue of Mayawati last night.
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