Even as the 15 days time given to the state government by the High Court to move Dr B R Ambedkar statue located outside Vidhana Soudha ended on Thursday, the work has not yet started.
Bearing losses that run into lakhs of rupees per day, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRCL) officials too have no clue about shifting of the statue.
“We have not received any communication regarding the shifting of the statue. Delay in shifting will obviously cause further losses,” N Sivasailam, Managing Director, BMRCL told Express.
Hearing a public interest litigation on December 12, Chief Justice Vikramajit Sen had observed that the statue is causing a delay in Metro work, and had directed the relocation of the statue to a safe location within 15 days.
Meanwhile, the petitioner A V Amaranathan, who had filed the case, is now planning to move the court for contempt charges against the state government.
“There has already been a delay of eight months in shifting the statue and causing further delay will only mean more losses for the Metro. The High Court direction has not been followed by the state government and this amounts to contempt of court. I will be moving court for the same on Friday,” said Amaranathan, advocate and petitioner.
When contacted, government’s chief secretary S V Ranganath said he would look into the matter soon.
“I am in Delhi right now and will look at all the facts of the matter on Friday,” he said.
The public works department (PWD) which had earlier shifted Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhash Chandra Bose statues located on the same premises too has not received any direction on the relocation of this statue.
“We have not received any orders on the movement of the statue. The PWD is the implementing agency and if we are asked to move the statue we will do so,” said Sadashiva Reddy B Patil, secretary, PWD.
More Delay?
The first tunnel boring machine (TBM) Helen, which reached Vidhana Soudha underground Metro station on Wednesday, still has to complete boring two tunnels with a length of 500 meters on this stretch starting from Vidhana Soudha station towards Cubbon Park station.
TBM 2 Margarita has 20 more metres left to reach the station. With the statue still not shifted, this is sure to cause more delays and losses for the BMRCL which plans to complete the tunneling work on the 18.1-km East-West corridor by June next year.
Meanwhile, the Dalit Sangharsha Samiti is demanding that the statue not be removed even if it costs the state government `500 crore.