Nagpur: As the entire nation paid tributes to Bharat Ratna Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar on his 120th birth anniversary on Thursday, Nagpur airport is still awaiting a new statue of the leader despite a promise made almost three years ago. The airport authorities had assured to replace the statue of Dr Ambedkar, after whom the airport is named, since it did not resemble the leader.
The existing 16-feet statue was unveiled on April 14, 2008, but had left Dr Ambedkar's followers disappointed. Airports Authority of India (AAI) then decided to install a new one. A senior airport official said, "The present statue, made by Amravati sculptor SR Satarkar and costing .Rs 16 lakh had disappointed Ambedkar followers. They said it did not resemble the great man and its hand was also not correctly positioned." AAI appointed an expert committee which finalized the design of a new statue. "Eleven sculptors submitted their designs before the panel and the one by renowned sculptor Pradnya Murti was selected," the official told TOI.
The official added, "A large number of Ambedkar followers had objected to the first statue three years back. They said that it did not resemble Dr Ambedkar and the right hand forefinger of the statue was pointing downwards. Actually, the leader's statues across the country have the finger pointing upwards." AAI executive director had then issued directives to form an expert panel under the then airport director SN Borkar's chairmanship.
15/04/11 Sachin Dravekar/Times of India
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