Between 1983 and 1989, N. T. Rama Rao served as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. During his tenure, he spent large sums to erect several statues of people from the region's political and religious history. During his visit to New York, he saw the Statue of Liberty and was inspired by the efforts to restore it. He said "I wanted something like that ... That would have been my contribution to society."A majestic statue of the Buddha that was meant to put the Statue of Liberty in the shade has been lying flat on its side on the sandy bed of Hyderabad's Hussainsagar Lake for two years.
Ever since the prodigious 15.27 m-tall granite figure fell into the lake during a catastrophic attempt to install it, the Andhra Pradesh Government has been promising to have it standing tall in all its glory - as N.T. Rama Rao had dreamt it would be.
The world's tallest monolith was NTR's brainchild. But his ambitious plan, costing Rs.5.58 crore, suffered a near fatal setback when it sank on March 10, 1990, killing nine people. Assam Bengal Carriers (ABC) were assigned the task of using special salvage technology to bring the 350-tonne statue to the surface.It was then moved to the newly-built makeshift jetty by the side of the imposing pedestal on which the Buddha will stand.But ABC's plans to ferry the statue to the pedestal did not proceed smoothly. The weight of the barge had to be reduced by over 100 tonnes and later it was decided to slip the statue on to the vessel.
"This is to make sure the barge is not easily destabilised," explains Captain Yogesh Kundra, ABC project site chief. With one of the causes of the tragedy being that the barge used at the time was inadequate, such caution made good sense.
The installation of the monolith, likely to attract tourists, will be completed in May. Finally, a smile may appear on the Buddha's face, albeit a watery one.
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