Daulat Singh Park at the historic Ridge, where a six-feet tall bronze statue of six-time former chief minister Virbhadra Singh was installed Monday, doesn't fall in the category of public utility places, the Himachal Pradesh government has said. The state submitted this in response to a contempt notice, issued by an activist Suman Kadam, pertaining to the installation of statues on the Ridge in violation of a 2013 Supreme Court directive. The state government also said that designated places on the Ridge where statues have been been installed were already earmarked for the purpose so that the future generation gets inspiration from these personalities. Kadam through her counsel had issued notices to Municipal Corporation Commissioner Bhupender Kumar Attri; Mayor Surinder Chauhan; Deputy Mayor Uma Kaushal; Principal Secretary, Urban Development, Devesh Kumar, Chief Secretary and CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on October 3. Attri told The Indian Express that the permission for the installation of Virbhadra Singh's statue was given by the state government. “We forwarded the contempt-notice to the state government for the legal opinion. We received the opinion last week stating that the places on the Ridge where statues of prominent personalities were installed were already earmarked for the purpose. The government has stated that the statues were installed so that the future generation can take inspiration. The government also made it clear that the place — Daulat Singh Park — where the statue is being installed doesn't fall in the category of pavement, sideways, roads and other public utility places,” Attri said. On the Supreme Court direction dating January 18, 2013, the government has made it clear that it shall not grant any permission for installation of any statue or construction of any structure in public roads, pavements, sideways and other public utility places. Kadam, meanwhile said, "We issued the notices to the authorities to curb the culture of installation of statues, especially of the political personalities. The Ridge is already overcrowded with the statues. Instead of installing statues, authorities should plant trees, saplings here." Sources in the Shimla Municipal Corporation said, "The activist in the notice raised questions on the installation of two statues including one of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and another of former CM Virbhadra Singh. The judgement referred to in the notice was delivered on January 18 in 2013. Four other statues including that of Lt Gen Daulat Singh; first CM of Himachal Pradesh YS Parmar; former PM Indira Gandhi and Mahatma Gandhi were installed before 2013. There are two other statues including that of freedom fighter Lala Lajpat Rai and former PM Lal Bahadur Shastri installed at the Scandal Point and near the CTO Chowk on The Mall, respectively. These two are situated at a significant distance from the Ridge." In February, 2024, PWD Minister Vikramaditya Singh reciting the lines of Bahadurshah Zaffar, "Do Gaz zameen naseeb na hui kue-e-yaar", had complained that the state government was not providing space for the statue of his late father.
