Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Statue Incident: Maharashtra Govt Forms 2 Expert Committees For New Installation And Collapse Investigation

Mumbai: There goes the saying 'once smitten twice shy'. Two important state government decisions about the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue, have clear mentions of the years of experience the expert members have. This is precisely due to the barrage of criticism the state is facing over the experience and expertise Jaideep Apte, the sculptor of the statue that collapsed on August 26 at Rajkot Fort, possesses.

Three days after the collapse of the newly inaugurated statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj at Rajkot Fort at Malvan, the Maharashtra government formed two technical committees to accelerate the work of construction of a new statue at the same site.

Of the two technical committees formed by the CM, one will be headed by the additional chief secretary for PWD Manisha Patankar Mhaiskar for the installation of the new statue. The second committee, appointed to probe the causes of the collapse, will be headed by Commodore Pawan Dhingra, an expert from the Navy.

The committee headed by Mhaiskar has two experts - Prof Jangid who has 30 years of experience in structural engineering and Prof Parida who possesses 12 years of experience in metallurgy engineering and material science, says the government decision. Both the experts are from IIT, Mumbai.

Interestingly, previous decisions issued by the government never mentioned the experience, recalled the officials. The committee will also have Sadashiv Salunkhe, Secretary, Roads in the PWD; Commodore M Doraibabu from the Navy; Rajeev Mishra, director of JJ School of Architecture; Raje Raghoji Angre, an expert on the history of Maratha naval warfare and a noted historian Jaisinghrao Pawar.

This committee has been asked to conceptualise the job of installing a new statue along with the procedure and scope. The second committee headed by Dhingra will have Vikas Ramgude who has 30 years of experience in structural design. He is currently with the state infrastructure development corporation. The other three members include Prof Jangid Prof Parida and Sanjay Dashpute, secretary (construction) in the PWD.

The committee has been asked to probe the reasons for the collapse of the statue and the persons responsible for it. Both committees have been asked to submit reports on an immediate basis without a mention of any deadline.