Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Thursday laid the foundation stone for a 125-ft tall statue of B.R. Ambedkar to coincide with the 125{+t}{+h}birth anniversary of the latter at the sprawling NTR gardens on Necklace road here.
Billed as the tallest statue of the Father of Constitution in the country, it is conceived on a rock topping where a platform in the shape of a square is proposed to be constructed to mount the huge image in bronze. The elevated site was specifically chosen to make the statue appear taller when visitors stood underneath the structure. Mr. Rao has mandated the completion of the statue by Ambedkar’s birth anniversary next year.
Another 125-ft statue of Ambedkar which was conceived by Uttar Pradesh government at Lucknow has not been completed.
Mr. Rao said on the occasion that the site was selected keeping in view the monolith statue of Buddha, whom Ambedkar adored, in the waters of Hussainsagar lake across the road. The Buddha statue, Ambedkar statue and the Secretariat should be seen in a sequence. The Ambedkar statue will be a landmark for Hyderabad which will be erected without any constraint for funds.
He also laid the foundation stone for a 15-storied Ambedkar Bhavan on Lower Tank Bund road to house offices and facilities for development of SCs and STs. The towers will come up at the existing Ambedkar Bhavan which is unused.
The foundation stone for a building of the Centre for Dalit Studies was laid by him at Borabanda.
KCR also lays stone for a 15-storied Ambedkar Bhavan on Lower Tank Bund road
