The 108-feet bronze statue of Bengaluru's founder Kempegowda will be unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 11 near the international airport in the city, Karnataka Minister C N Ashwath Narayan said on Wednesday. The statue weighing 220 tonne is being installed at the Kempegowda International Airport at an expense of Rs 85 crore.
Renowned sculptor and Padma Bhushan awardee Ram Vanji Sutar has designed the statue. Sutar had built the 'Statue of Unity' in Gujarat and the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Bengaluru's Vidhana Soudha. Besides Kempegowda's statue, there will also be a heritage park in an area covering 23 acres dedicated to the 16th century chieftain.
Narayan, who is also the Vice-Chairperson of the Kempegowda Heritage Area Development Authority, said a campaign for collecting sacred mud from across the state to be used for the development of Kempegowda theme park at the international airport, will be flagged off by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on October 21 in front of Vidhana Soudha here. "The campaign will run till November 7 and during this period, vehicles named 'Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Ratha' will collect the sacred mud across all the districts of the state. The sacred mud thus collected will be used during the unveiling of the 108-feet statue of the Bengaluru founder by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 11," he said.
To ensure the success of the campaign, committees have been formed at the district level, the minister said, CEOs of zilla panchayats in each district will be the nodal officer of the committee. Religious leaders, elected representatives, writers, progressive farmers, members of self-help groups, senior citizens, milk producers' federations and industrial associations will be involved in the campaign, he added.
Later, Narayan visited the residence of former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda and invited him to participate in the inaugural event of sacred mud collection on October 21.
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