A bronze statue of Gyan Patnaik, wife of late former Chief Minister Biju Patnaik and mother of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, would be installed in the State capital.
Sculpting of the statue has been completed and steps are afoot to instal it at a suitable location, said Culture Minister Ashok Chandra Panda in the State Assembly on Thursday.
Earlier, replying to a query from BJP MlA Dilip Ray in May this year, the Minister had informed the House that the Government was taking initiative to instal a bronze statue of former Chief Minister Nandini Satpathy, veteran Odishi dancer Sanjukta Panigrahi, eminent freedom fighter Rama Devi and freedom fighter Gyan Patnaik.
However, Gyan Patnaik’s name was not in the list of woman freedom fighters of the State which had been provided by the Minister in September.
During this Assembly session, Dilip Ray had sought to know as to when the statues of other veteran women freedom fighters including Kuntala Kumari Sabat, Malati Choudhury, Sarala Devi and Annapurna Moharana would be installed in Bhubaneswar.
The Minister replied that statues of a total 70 eminent personalities have been installed across the State so far, including 48 statues in the capital city.
Meanwhile, Nandini Satpathy’s statue has been unveiled, and some changes have been made with the statue of Sanjukta Panigrahi. The statues of Rama Devi and Gyan Patnaik are complete and would be erected after construction of pedestals.
A work order has been placed for construction of bronze statues of Kuntala Kumari Sabat and Parvati Giri, he said, adding that there is no proposal with the Culture Department at present for statues of Malati Choudhury and Sarala Devi.