New Delhi: Union Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday said that if the Shivaji statue in Maharashtra’s Sindhudurg was made of stainless steel, it would not have collapsed. The Union Minister suggested that the use of stainless steel can be very useful for safeguarding infrastructure in the coastal region as it provides a shield against rusting.
“I have been pressing for the last three years that stainless steel should be used in the construction of bridges built close to sea. When I (as state minister) was implementing the construction of 55 flyovers in Mumbai, one person took me for a ride. He put some powder-coating on iron rods and said those were rust-proof… But there was rusting. Now I feel in all roads within 30km from the sea, stainless steel should be used. If stainless steel had been used for the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji, it would have never collapsed,” he said at a Ficci event.
Meanwhile, Sindhudurg police have issued a lookout notice for sculptor Jaydeep Apte, who has been missing for over 10 days since the collapse of the Chhatrapati Shivaji statue at Rajkot Fort in Malvan.
Last week, the Malvan police filed an FIR against Apte and structural engineer Chetan Patil under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. While Patil is currently in police custody until September 5, Apte remains at large.
A 35-foot tall statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, which was unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Rajkot Fort in Malvan tehsil of Sindhudurg on Navy Day (December 4) last year, collapsed on August 26.
