HYDERABAD: The state government’s long pending plan of installing a bronze statue of Adivasi leader Komaram Bheem on the Tank Bund may take some more time as the matter is now pending with the chief minister’s office (CMO).
The tribal welfare department has sent the files concerned to the chief minister's office in January this year but so far not received any response from the CMO, said an official of the tribal welfare department.
The GHMC gave permission to the AP state cultural department to install the statue near Rani Rudrama Devi’s on the Tank Bund in January. The pedestal for the statue has been kept ready and the 9-ft bronze statue of Komaram Bheem was also ready ten months ago. But since the CMO has not given the nod, the installation of the statue is getting delayed,'' the official said.
Sunita M Bhagwat, incharge director of the AP State Cultural Department said, “Our department and the GHMC have completed arrangements for installation of the statue before January this year.” This bronze statue is the second statue of Komaram Bheem in the state after a cement statue in Adilabad, said HS Chandrakanth, the sculptor who made the 9-ft bronze statue of Komaram Bheem.
The state government had entrusted the work to install Komaram Bheem’s statue in 2009 after many representations by Adivasi leaders to install the freedom fighter's statue. Many tribal leaders have threatened to launch agitations, if the statue was not installed.
Komaram Bheem is a tribal leader who fought against the erstwhile Asaf Jahi dynasty for the liberation of Hyderabad state during the beginning of the 20th century, in Adilabad district. He was born in Gond Tribal community.