A life size statue of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam would be installed in the sea beach of Chandipur under the initiative of the Golden Beach Festival Committee with support of the Baleswar district administration.
The statue of the former President would be unveiled during the beach festival scheduled to be held from January 7 to 10 next. Accordingly, the venue has been identified and groundwork has begun.
Festival committee secretary Bismay Mohanty said the statue would be unveiled tentatively on January 7 on the opening day of the festival. The Rs 15-lakh project’s construction would be made in PPP mode. While the local MlA has given Rs 5.6 lakh from his untied fund, the rest amount is being managed from different sources.
“The height of the structure would be around 16 feet including an eight-feet statue, the rest being the pedestal. The statue will be of black granite stone and local artisans of Soro and Nilgiri have been engaged for the job,” said Mohanty.
“Since Kalam was having special love, affection and attachment for Chandipur and he spent his major time in the missile testing range, ITR, the committee has decided to erect the statue near the beach close to the Kazureena guest house,” he said.
District Collector Pramod Kumar Das said, “The idea of installing a statue of Dr Kalam was coined by the Beach Festival Committee and the administration will extend all possible help.”
like previous years, the festival committee has planned to hold the event this year in a big way. While it plans to hold a cycle rally from the Baleswar railway station to Chandipur on the day of unveiling of the Kalam statue, each evening different entertaining programmes would be held during the cultural extravaganza.