The Telangana government has reportedly invited global tenders for the second time as part of its plans to install a 125-foot high Ambedkar statue in Hyderabad's NTR Garden.
Writing for the Times of India, Roushan Ali reports that the tenders would also involve the company preparing a detailed project report (DPR), which would also include the estimated cost of the project.
"The consultant will be given one month to prepare the DPR that will include estimates and plan for manufacture and installation of the statue along with a museum, auditorium and recreation activities. The statue will be set up in NTR Garden," Roads and Buildings engineer-in-chief, I Ganapathi Reddy, told TOI.
In April last year, the Telangana government announced that it would erect the largest statue of BR Ambedkar in the country.
Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao also constituted a committee at the time, headed by Deputy Chief Minister Kadiyam Srihari and consisting of several senior officials from the state government, to look into the project.
Marking the 125th birth anniversary of Ambedkar on April 14 last year, the Chief Minister laid the foundation stone for the 125-foot tall statue which will be installed beside Necklace Road, near the Hussain Sagar lake.
While the state had called for tenders, the process did not move forward after that, and had been temporarily shelved.
It is interesting to note that following the Telangana government's decision, the Andhra Pradesh government had also made a similar one.
Last year, Andhra Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu also announced a plan to build a statue of Ambedkar.
“We want to develop Amaravati as a tourist attraction for Buddhists from across the globe. BR Ambedkar’s proposed statue and memorial park would further add glory to the capital city. We are planning to organise an Ambedkar Ideology Run, Ambedkar Sports Meet and other programmes for the entire year. We will translate all the works of Ambedkar into Telugu language,” he was quoted as saying.
Some reports at the time, had suggested that 20-acres of land had been allotted for the statue and the proposed memorial, while nearly Rs 100 crore was allocated by the state for the statue’s construction.