VIJAYAWADA: Stating that the expenditure on setting up Dr BR Ambedkar’s 124-feet tall statue in Vijayawada has escalated to Rs 265 crore from Rs 100 crore, Social Welfare Minister Merugu Nagarjuna said that the State government will spend the necessary amount and the statue will be unveiled on the next birth anniversary of the father of the Indian Constitution on April 14, 2023.
Nagarjuna, who is also the chairman of the Ambedkar Statue Installation Committee, inspected the construction works of the statue on the PWD grounds here on Tuesday. Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said that though the initial estimates for installation of the statue and other works were expected to be around `100 crore, however, it has touched `265 crore now. There are possibilities of further escalation of expenditure by the time of completion of the project, he added.
However, notwithstanding the expenditure, the Ambedkar Swaraj Maidan project will be completed as desired by Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, he said. Stating that the works of the project have reached the key-phase, the Minister said that the Chief Minister is also taking stock of the progress of works regularly.