Rajahmundry: The proposed installati-on of the 12-feet bronze statue of former Chief Minister late N.T. Rama Rao in the form of Lord Krishna on Godavari river bund at Pushkar ghat on a 15-feet pedestal in between the two rail bridges for the ensuing Godavari Pushkaralu, has kicked up a row. A section of people are op-posing it while TD supporters have welcomed it in Rajahmundry. Initially a proposal came up for installation of a huge statue of NTR on the river bed, but it drew criticism from all over forcing the state government to change its mind. The Godavari bund road has statues of prominent personalities of various fields including religion, culture, films, politics and community.
The statues of Gautama Maharshi, Pandiri Maha Devudu, Sobhan Babu, S.V. Ranga Rao, Raja Babu and others are installed on the bund road. However, the local people contend that the statues of prominent perso-nalities are being releg-ated to insignificant pla-ces to accommodate the statues of political leaders subjecting them to insult. For instance, the statue of social reform-er Kandukuri Veresalin-gam Panthulu was shifted from Kotipalli bus stand centre to a corner to instal the statue of N.T. Rama Rao.
Similarly, the statue of Raja Raja Narendra on whom the city of Rajamahendri draws its name is shifted to a corner near Pushkar ghat where the general public relieve themselves.
The locals are also critical against installation of statues of some film personalities and communal leaders whose contribution to the city in terms of promotion of its culture and development is insignificant.
In case of the proposed installation of NTR statue at Pushkar ghat, the people are questioning his relevance to the city and his contribution to development and blame the political parties for installing statues of th-eir leaders at all important junctions affecting vehicular traffic.
TD MLA Gorantla Buchaiah Choudhary justifies the proposal on NTR’s statue by saying that, "NTR was a pioneer of Telugu culture. He being a mythological artist, showed the world the personalities of Lord Ram, Lord Krishna and others. It was NTR who upgraded Rajahmu-ndry municipality to a corporation and developed Auto Nagar, Housing Board Colony and other areas.
