From the distance of as far as four kilometres, one can see the mammoth lettering ‘Lal Bahadur Shastri’ in Kannada at the Alamatti Dam that is named after the former Indian Prime Minister.
Standing far away from the reservoir, it may not be possible for anyone to make out the actual size of each letter, but as one reaches closer, the size of the letters could seem awe-inspiring. “The gigantic size of this metallic sign board installed on the left of the concrete wall of the dam, has all potential to enter the Guinness Book of World Records and the Limca Book of Records”, say the officials of Karnataka Bhagya Jal Nigam Limited (KBJNL) that has got the name fitted.
According the officials, each letter is nearly 7.5 metres tall and close to 10 metres wide, which is, almost as big a singlestorey building.
The installation work is still in progress and the length of the lettering could reach about 112 meters when it gets finished, the officials said.
A Punebased company which has designed the letters at the cost of Rs. 50 lakh, is being fitted using cranes by about 25 workers.
“In order to make the letters visible even at night, nearly 18 LED bulbs of 60 watts each are being installed. Once the work is over, the huge name display would magnificently seen lit up at night too”, the officials said.
According to them, probably it is one of the biggest sign boards in the world.
The company that has been designing the letter has also made a 15-minute documentary on the entire work which would showcase the effort gone into it from the beginning of the work to its final look on the wall. Maharashtra-based, noted theatre and film maker, Makarand Brahme - who was also associated with TV serials such as ‘The sword of Tipu Sultan’ and ‘Chanakya’, would be directing the documentary, officials said.
“The company that has taken the contract, has submitted the application to Guinness and Limca book of records requesting them to consider the same for documenting their work”, the officials said.
