Hyderabad: Three statues in GHMC head office removed

After being covered for nearly 15 years, statues of YS Rajasekhar Reddy, Dr BR Ambedkar, and Mahatma Gandhi were removed from GHMC’s Tank Bund office. Officials plan proper relocation after legal disputes and political opposition delayed their unveiling

Hyderabad: After remaining unveiled for almost 15 years, three statues of former united AP Chief Minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy, Dr BR Ambedkar, and Mahatma Gandhi, at the GHMC head office, were taken down from their pedestals on Tuesday.

The decision to remove the statues was made by the city authorities to ensure proper installation in the future. On May 22, the GHMC’s standing committee, chaired by Mayor Gadwal Vijayalaxmi, passed a resolution to relocate these statues and build a water fountain there.

These three statues remained wrapped in white cloth at the eastern side of the GHMC head office, Tank Bund, for almost 15 years.

In 2010, the then-Mayor, Banda Karthika Reddy, passed a unanimous resolution to install a statue of YS Rajaseekhar Reddy, who died in a helicopter crash in the year 2009. However, this decision led to more controversies as corporators from other political parties opposed it and the issue even reached the High Court.

As the issue comes under the court’s purview, these three statues couldn’t be unveiled and remain wrapped in white cloth. “It is a long-standing issue, which has continued for the past 15 years. Different locations are being identified, but we are yet to come to a conclusion,” a town planning officer told ‘Telangana Today’.