New Delhi: PM Narendra Modi on Thursday evening unveiled the 28 feet Subash Chandra Bose statue at India gate. The statue has been installed at the same place where a ‘hologram statue’ of Netaji was unveiled earlier this year on Parakram Diwas (January 23) by the prime minister to mark the 125th birth anniversary of Bose.
It is a part of the Centre’s Rs 13,450 Crore central vista revamp which envisages a new triangular Parliament building, a common Central Secretariat, revamping the 3km Rajpath, a new Prime Minister’s residence and office, and a new Vice-President’s enclave.
The statue has been carved from a monolithic block of granite weighing 280 metric ton that was picked from Khammam, Telangana nearly two months ago. A team of sculptors, led by Arun Yogiraj, worked for 26,000 man-hours to carve out the grand statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
The festival at ‘Kartvya Path’ would commence at 08.45 PM on September 8 after the main function and it will continue from September 9-11 from 7-9 pm, it said.
A special 10-minute drone show on Netaji’s life would be projected at India Gate at 8 pm on September 9, 10 and 11. Both the cultural festival and the drone show would be open to the public with free entry, the ministry said.
The Kartavya Path would be open for visitors from September 9th. Spread across 3.9 lakh square metre, the path has 101 acres of lawns with different species of grass. The walkways have red granite with parking space for 1,125 vehicles. It also has 400 benches, 150 dustbins, and 650 new signages installed. There are 16 bridges on the entire stretch and boating would be allowed in the two canals as around 19 acres of total canal area has been revamped. Four new pedestrian underpasses have also been built along with eight amenity blocks. As many as 74 historic light poles and all chain links have been restored.