UP’s unofficial sculpture dept spends Rs 90 crore on busts

Apart from getting statues constructed of Bhimrao Ambedkar,Chhatrapati Shahu ji Maharaj,Chief Minister Mayawati,BSP founder Kanshi Ram,Jyoti Ba Phule and Ramabai Ambedkar,the department is also shelling out Rs 60 lakh each to get some 130 life-sized stone elephants constructed for the Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram memorials.

This is only the second time the department has got such a huge budget,most of it devoted to sculptures. A senior official said: “The last time we got a lot of money was in 2002-03,when the budget under this head was increased from Rs 19 crore to Rs 27 crore. Then too,most of the money was spent on statues installed at the Ambedkar Memorial.”

He said the budget had swelled this time because more than one memorial was being built at present. Out of the total budget approval of Rs 83 crore,the department has already spent Rs 73 crore on statues.

Sample this: Till December 2008,the Culture department,which had been allocated Rs 90 crore under the head Mahapurshon ki murtiyon ka nirmaan,spent Rs 72 crore. But under several heads like organising cultural programmes,Rs 90 lakh was allotted and Rs Rs 10 lakh spent. Nothing was spent from the Rs 10 lakh allotted for pension to old artistes; nothing either from the Rs 1 crore allocated for holding trainings in rural areas.

Though the budget for making sculptures is always allocated to the Department of Culture — it has a special section that handles the approvals,empanelment of artists etc — this time the department is only taking care of the financial aspects. The money is being given to the Rajkiya Nirman Nigam,which has been made the nodal agency for all projects by Mayawati and which is installing the sculptures.

An official said: “We have refused all other requests for statues as there is no fund left. Just a week ago,we got a request for a bust of Gautam Buddha in stone. But we cannot do it,as all our empanelled artists are busy in the chief minister’s projects.”

Secretary and director of the department Gajendra Pal said the money had been spent according to need. Pal said: “We shall exhaust our budget in the three months left for this financial year to end.”