MARGAO
The statue of Dr Ram Manohar Lohia once stood tall at the historic Lohia Maidan at Margao named after the great Indian nationalist, before it was towed away to pave way for the beautification of the historic place.
As the long-delayed beautification of the Lohia Maidan is inching its way to the last leg, Lohia’s statue has been installed at the Maidan, but not on a specially erected pedestal. In fact, Lohia’s statue, which once stood tall at the Maidan, will now not be visible from a distance.
Reason: The planners have done away with the huge concrete pedestal, on which Dr Lohia’s statue stood tall over the years. In fact, the pedestal which is now erected at the maidan is having a height of just a metre. The contractor, executing the beautification project, has washed his hands off, saying he has only executed what is being told by the consultant appointed by the executing agencies, Goa State Urban Development Agency.
In fact, the consultant told a group of freedom fighters that Dr Lohia’s statue will not stand tall at the maidan to the previous height because the consultant has done away with the huge pedestal. “We are only executing the work as per the design given by the consultant,” sources close to the consultant said, adding ‘it’s for the consultant to take a call whether to stick to the design or make the changes’.
Incidentally, around 80 per cent of the beautification work at the Lohia Maidan stands completed. Once completed, the Lohia Maidan will play host to around 1,500 chairs. It will have a capacity to accommodate around 2,500-3,000 people at one time.
A visit to the Lohia Maidan revealed that the maidan will have a green room behind the stage. The stage has been rebuilt in the beautification project, with a capacity to accommodate around 35 chairs.
The three walls built at the maidan, one on the stage, at the washroom and near the power transformer will be fitted with the Patradevi laterite stone.
Unlike the past, the entire maidan will have a flooring, work on which will be executed in the coming days. “Around 80 per cent of the beautification project stands completed till date. We have to only execute work on the flooring of the entire maidan, for which orders have been placed with an outstation manufacturing company,” sources said.
The Lohia beautification project and the project to give a face lift to the Margao Municipal square and over the century-old Margao Municipal building was mooted around 2019. Work on the project, however, could not take place for around two years, once even prompting former governor Satyapal Malik to visit the maidan to pay respect to the nationalist and socialist and reassure the freedom fighters and Madgavkars that he would take up with the government over the early execution of the beautification project.
The project had kicked up a row of sorts during the beautification after the martyrs memorial was found left in the construction debris and Lohia’s statue left at the maidan, before the memorial and the statue were towed away by the contractor and kept in safe custody.
