BJP corporator digs heels in, wants Azad statue at park

Allahabad: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) corporator Kiran Jaiswal asked the state government and Allahabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) to install freedom fighter Chandrashekhar Azad's statue at Circuit House and take a cue from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who paid a tribute to the martyr's statue at Company Bagh on his recent visit to the Sangam city.
Jaiswal, who on Friday put up a banner at Civil Lines demanding the same, said the statue was brought to the city in 2005 by then district magistrate Amrit Abhijat, with the intention of installing it at the Circuit House premises, but it has instead been gathering dust at AMC's premises for the past three years.
The statue was initially kept at AMC's Indian Press store house and was shifted to its present location after the issue was raised before AMC.
Jaiswal said "Despite a series of letters written to the governor, urban development minister and other senior state government officials, no action has been taken till date."
She further said city North MLA Anugrah Narayan Singh and and BJP MLC Yagya Dutt Sharma had also raised the issue in state assembly and Vidhan Parishad respectively.
"I even came to know that divisional commissioner had directed AMC authorities to take necessary steps for the installation of the statue at Circuit House, but it was all in vain, " she added. She demanded that the statue be installed at Circuit House on or before on July 23, which is Azad's birth anniversary.
Mayor Abhilasha Gupta said AMC has taken an NOC ( no objection certificate) from PWD for the installation of the statue and even allocated Rs 11 lakh for the purpose.