Statues at the wrong places clog roads,slow down traffic

More than 18 months back,the civic body had identified eight statues that needed to be relocated from busy traffic junctions to less crowded areas in order to avoid congestion. But not a single statue has been relocated yet.

In fact,the civic administration said it was helpless as it was up to the specially appointed committee to take a decision in this regard. This committee was appointed under the chairmanship of former mayor Rajlaxmi Bhosale. But till her term,that ended last month,the committee could manage to hold only one meeting. It is now up to the new mayor to take up the issue.

Nitin Sable,a traffic planning department official said: “There has been absolutely no progress in the issue so far. Only after the committee meets will a decision be taken.”

The issue gained importance in March 2008 after teenager Atharva Dongare died after being run over by a PMPML bus near the Kakasaheb Gadgil statue.

The eight statues identified to be relocated include Kakasaheb Gadgil’s statue near Shaniwarwada,Vasantdada Patil’s statue at Abhinav Art College Chowk,Maharshi Karve’s statue at Kothrud Gaon and Kamgar Putala near Shivajinagar court.

According to activist Vijay Kumbhar,“When a new officer comes,he tries to implement his own ideas,but does not have a proper idea about the old issues. Hence,soon there is a backlog of uncleared issues — like this one.”