Civic body finds it difficult to install statues of late Sena leader, 12 others for want of space
You are not the only one facing space crunch in Mumbai – even the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is finding it hard to accommodate late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray’s statue inside its iconic council hall.
And he is not alone. There are a dozen proposals to install statues and busts. Already, there are 13 statues and busts inside the hall. Interestingly, one of the proposals is to have the statue of Prabodhankar Thackeray, Balasaheb's father.
If you think that with the BMC being ruled by the Shiv Sena, the party which Balasaheb founded, these proposals are par for the course, hold the thought.
The proposal to install Balasaheb's statue was moved by the BJP and that of Prabodhankar by the MNS. When dad and son vie for the same space, you've a problem in hand.
MNS’ Chetan Kadam, who moved the motion to have Prabhodankar’s statue, said that the BMC administration will first to install his portrait. “They said that a statue or a bust would be installed when the hall is extended,” he said.
As for other proposals, the BMC is planning a new policy to figure out whose statues or busts should be installed in the hall, where the general body meeting has been taking place for over a century.
“There is no space for people to sit when the House is in full quorum. So we have requested the administration to come up with a policy on installing such statues,” said a senior civic official.
There are 227 corporators in the BMC and an equal number of seats. At the moment, there is neither the space for more statues nor for visitors and journalists who attend the debates and discussions.
The BMC’s hall, built in 1893, is a designated heritage site. Statues of Chhatrapati Shivaji, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Vallabhbhai Patel, Lokmanya Tilak, BR Ambedkar, Jyotiba Phule, Dadabhai Naoroji, Justice Bhalchandra Bhatwadekar and Dosabhai Karaka are already installed in the hall.
Apart from Bal Thackeray and his father, Sena corporator Yashwant Jadhav had demanded that the statue of Savitribai Phule be installed in the main hall, but that proposal, too, has not been cleared yet. Also, on the waiting list are eminent poet Vishnu Waman Shirwadkar alias Kusumagraj and Veermata Jijabai Bhosale.
The BMC had last installed a bust of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in the hall around 10 years ago following a notice of motion by then BJP corporator Dilip Patel.
Civic officials said that the BMC is set to extend the civic hall not just to accommodate more statues and busts of leaders but to also provide greater seating capacity for officials and journalists.
“Even if space is created later, we won’t be able to accommodate so many statues. This can’t go on like this. The number of requests will only increase. So, we have suggested that there be a clear policy on whose statues or busts can be installed,” the official added. Senior heritage engineer Sanjay Sawant confirmed that no space was available for new statues and a suggestion for a policy on the matter was made.
The issue will now come up for discussion before group leaders in the BMC.
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