Seeing the appeal of building statues among general masses, it seems the politicians cutting across parties and states are now going to focus more on building statues rather than education, poverty and healthcare. After PM Narendra Modi unveiled the world’s tallest statue costing Rs 3,000 crore, UP government announced to build a massive statue of Hindu deity Lord Rama and now Karnataka government has proposed to build 125 feet statue of Mother Cauvery.
Congress-JDS led coalition on Wednesday announced to build a 125 feet structure of Mother Cauvery around the Krishna Raja Sagar reservoir in Mandya district, dedicating to river Cauvery. The project will cover an area of around 400 acres and will cost Rs 1200 crores. The Karnataka government has sought the help of private investors and will start the project in the next few months which will be completed in the next two years.
The monument will have a statue, a museum complex, two glass houses measuring around 360 feet that will give a bird’s eye view of the reservoir, a bandstand, indoor stadium and replicas of historical monuments reported LiveMint.
The proposal was made by Water Resources Minister D K Shivakumar and Tourism Minister Sa Ra Mahesh on Wednesday. The statue will be built alongside Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar statue.
The Cauvery river flows through the states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and is the third largest river in India.
The proposal comes at a time when complaints of illegal sand mining in Cauvery is being ignored by the state government, which is detrimental to ecological balance.
Speaking to Deccan Herald, Tourism Minister Mahesh said that the government wanted to reflect the strong sentiment of Kannadigas for Cauvery ‘thayi’ (mother) through the statue.
Also Read: India’s Most Debt-Ridden State To Build A Memorial Worth Rs 3,600 Cr: Are Our Priorities Correct?