Gandhi statue at Marina will be shifted 20m away in Chennai

CHENNAI: The Gandhi statue on Marina Beach, one of the city’s popular landmarks, will be soon shifted temporarily about 20m away from its original spot to facilitate metro rail construction.
A concrete pedestal, on which the statue will be placed, has been built closer to the statue’s original location. Metro rail will be constructing Lighthouse underground metro station and associated twin-tunnels under Kamarajar Salai as part of the 118.9km phase-2 lines, likely to be ready by 2026. CMRL has barricaded nearly 1km along the Marina Beach near Gandhi statue for pre-construction activities.
On Wednesday, workers were seen standing on the pedestal of the statue, which was covered with green construction safety net, and getting the statue ready to be lifted and relocated. Sources said the statue may be soon lifted using a giant crane and placed on the new pedestal built about 20m away near the service lane behind the original location of the statue.
“Once the construction of the underground metro station is completed, the statue will be shifted again to its original spot in Marina Beach,” an official said.
CMRL earlier said tunneling in Marina Beach will commence in June. Lighthouse metro station is part of the 26.1km corridor-4 from Lighthouse to Poonamallee bypass. The corridor will link many core localities like Mylapore, Nandanam, T Nagar and Vadapalani.
Earlier, at least three alternative locations including Ripon Building, the headquarters of Greater Chennai Corporation, were discussed for shifting the statue. Sources said the plan of shifting the statue far away from its original location was dropped to avoid causing damage to the statue during transportation as it is more than 60 years old.
L Girirajan, CMRL spokesperson, did not respond to queries.
Historians said the bronze statue on a 12-feet pedestal sculpted by Debi Prasad Roy Choudhury was unveiled in 1959 by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.