The city will soon have another feather in its cap when a statue of Mahatma Gandhi will be installed at Irving city in Dallas, United States on October 2 coinciding with the birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation. The life size statue is transported all the way from the city to Dallas.
It is B.S.V Prasad, a city-based sculptor, who made the nine-foot bronze statue for Mahatma Gandhi Memorial of North Texas (MGMNT). “Impressed by the Bharat Mata statue installed at Yanam, (made by Mr. Prasad), MGMNT representatives approached me to make the life size bronze statue of Gandhiji two years ago. Eight artists worked on it and it took us 45 days to make the 450 kg statue. The statue is made at a cost of Rs.5 lakh,” explains Mr. Prasad, who is a national award winner in sculpture.
A fibre model of the statue was prepared and presented to MGMNT for approval. After clearance, the bronze statue was made and shipped to Dallas.
It is an amalgam of copper, zinc, tin and lead. All the work right from casting, welding and grinding to painting was done here at our Bommuluru workshop.
MGMNT chairman Dr. Prasad Thotakura recently informed that ground breaking ceremony for installation of the statue was conducted in May.
The dedication ceremony of the memorial would be on October 2 and family members of Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King besides many policy makers from India and United States are expected to attend the programme. Invitation is also likely to be sent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the event, claims Mr. Prasad.
“They have invited me and my colleague K. Prasad for the installation ceremony. We will be personally monitoring the installation. It’s a great feeling to be part of the entire programme,” says Mr. Prasad.
