Preempting a controversy, Water Resource Minister D K Shivakumar, on Thursday, clarified that it would be a tower, and not a statue, that is proposed to come up at the Krishnaraja Sagar reservoir in Mandya.
“There is no statue. The architects have proposed a tower that will have glass chambers at a height where people can get a view of the region,” Shivakumar told reporters.
“It was a budget announcement that a Disneyland will be created at KRS dam. We’re doing this keeping tourism in mind. We will invite the private sector to invest through a public-private partnership. This will create jobs and bring revenue for the government,” the minister said.
The minister, however, did not have a clear answer when it was pointed out that the proposal received by the government clearly stated that it would be a statue of Mother Cauvery. “Let’s see. It will be decided by the Cabinet,” he said.
The proposal
It has been proposed to erect a 350 feet statue of Mother Cauvery as part of a bigger project to attract tourists to the KRS dam. The statue will stand on a 125 foot base from where visitors can see the dam from the viewers' gallery.
In his July 5 budget, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy had announced the government’s proposal to develop KRS like Disneyland in the USA. Earmarking an initial allotment of Rs 5 crore for the project, Kumaraswamy had said that global industrialists were eager to invest in the project.
Shivakumar declined to comment when asked how he can defend a project like this when his party, the Congress, criticised the BJP over the 600 feet Sardar Patel statue in Gujarat.