Pune Municipal Corporation drags feet on shifting statues

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has gone the extra mile to speedily implement the general body’s resolution to remove Dadoji Konddev’s statue from Lal Mahal within three days.

But it is sitting on its resolution, passed two-and-a-half-years ago, to remove statues from busy traffic junctions and roads that are disrupting traffic movement in the city.

Cutting across political lines, corporators had, on July 28, 2008, passed a resolution to shift seven statues to ensure smooth flow of traffic in the city.

The issue came to the fore in 2008, when 11-year-old Atharva Dongre, a student of New English School in Ramanbaug, was run over by a Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) bus close to the Kakasaheb Gadgil statue, near Shaniwarwada.

The main reason cited for the tragedy was that the bus driver had failed to spot Atharva, who was riding a bicycle, due to the statue. After the accident, many corporators and civic activists had raised the issue in the general body meeting, following which the administration had decided to shift such structures from the city roads.

The PMC even formed a committee of all party leaders and civic officials to identify such structures. However, even after two-and-a-half years, the resolution is still on paper.

Some of the structures the committee decided to shift include Kakasaheb Gadgil statue near Shaniwarwada, Kamgar statue near Shivajinagar court, the statues of Maharshi Karve and Chhatrapati Shivaji in Kothrud, Vasantdada Patil’s statue at Puram Chowk and Sadhu Vaswani’s statue near the railway station.

The civic body had also allotted land at alternative sites to replace these statues, besides deciding not to set up new statues in the middle of the roads.

When questioned on the issue, mayor Mohansingh Rajpal told DNA he was not aware of the proposal, but he would ensure that the civic administration acts swiftly in shifting these statues. However, he did not give a specific time frame for it.

One of the reasons for Pune’s chaotic and slow-moving traffic is the statues standing in the middle of the city roads. The city has 107 such statues, including 40 full-sized ones.

The civic body installed the statues in memory of important people, who had contributed to the city’s development, social uplift and education.