News18: Mumbai:
Thursday, January 17, 2019.
The
Centre splurged more than Rs 2.64 crore on advertising in the media for the
inaugural of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's statue, known as the Statue of Unity, a
RTI reply revealed here on Wednesday.
Prime
Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated what is now the world's tallest statue
on October 31, 2018, to mark the 143rd birth anniversary of Patel, a freedom
fighter and the first home minister of independent India.
Mumbai
Right to Information (RTI) activist Jatin Desai had written to the ministry of
information and broadcasting seeking details under RTI of the expenditure incurred
on advertising the statue inauguration in different media.
The
Bureau of Outreach and Communications of the Ministry said in a reply on
January 9 that the government had spent a total of Rs 2,62,48,463 on the
electronic media and another Rs 168,415 on print media advertisements.
"This
amount does not include the total spent by the government on the inauguration,
plus on outdoor advertising which is not available with the Bureau. Spending
such a huge amount on advertising and lavish ceremonies cannot be justified
when the people in the vicinity of the statue are tribals and poor," Desai
said.
The
colossal 182 metre-tall statue of Sardar Patel is situated on an island on the
Narmada river near Kevadia, around 100 km south-east of Vadodara city of Gujarat.
Built
at a cost of nearly Rs 3,000 crore, the landmark statue was designed by
sculptor Ram V Sutar, 94, of Maharashtra and built by Mumbai-based Larsen &
Toubro company.