Hyderabad: In spite of a High Court order to Telangana and Andhra Pradesh governments in December to remove unauthorised statues, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation is yet to follow up on it.
The HC had expressed concern about the statues obstructing motorists’ and pedestrians’ views on main roads and junctions and had directed the governments to take action.

A senior official from the town planning department of GHMC said, “As a follow-up, surveys are on to identify the statues in the city. It is being done at the zonal levels, and after we get all the data, we will look into the issues. In case the statue is obstructing the view, we have to find a place to relocate it.”

The official added, “As town planning staff is busy with the regularisation and property-tax collection drive, the corporation is left with little resources to implement the court order immediately.” However, a zonal officer said, “For fear of repercussions, the issue has taken a backseat. When we can’t remove posters or banners belonging to the ruling party and leave them untouched on most of the occasions, think of the kind of political pressure officials will have to face if they remove a statue.”

Regarding plans to deal with the political pressure, the zonal officer said, “We will try and take the public into confidence and explain to them that the statues are being shifted and not removed.” The officials also said that a survey of a similar kind had been taken up in 2009, but the data has reportedly gone “missing.”

G.V. Rao, a resident of Alwal said, “While the court order to remove the unauthorised statues and relocate those blocking views hasn’t been implemented yet, a new statue has come up on the Alwal road.” O.M. Debara, a retired government engineer and a social activist, said, “Many areas in the city are dotted with unnecessary statues of political leaders.

They should not have been allowed to come up in the first place.” He added, “Instead of statues of politicians; we should install statues of soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the country.” On political pressure in such issues, Mr Debara said, “Had the High Court not intervened, the 28 acre land of Hussainsagar would have been converted into a memorial of former Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy.”

Bapu at YSR’s feet sparks row, stalled statue project:

Tattered pieces of three cloth covered statues of Mahatma Gandhi, B.R. Ambedkar and former Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy was found in the backyard of the GHMC’s head office. In 2010, the then Congress corporators and the GHMC standing committee, chaired by Mayor B. Karthika Reddy, had given a green signal for installation of a statue of YSR inside the GHMC premises to honour the leader who had died in a helicopter crash. However, controversies brewed as leaders from other political parties opposed the move.

A tussle between the parties followed as “a statue of Gandhi and Ambedkar were erected on lower pedestals beside YSR’s statue. There was no alternative but to stop the inauguration, so we did that,” said Singireddy Srinivas Reddy, the Telugu Desam floor leader in the last GHMC council. Srinivas Reddy, who recently joined the TRS, said that he would approach K. Chandrasekhar Rao about the issue.

“There is a rule prohibiting installation of statues of political leaders inside government offices. As an elected body is not there, the GHMC commissioner is the competent authority. However, it is the incompetence of GHMC that the issue has remained unresolved,” said Mr Srinivas Reddy.