Directorate of Arts okayed Shivaji statue model, but...: Officials

The sculptor of the collapsed statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Maharashtra's Sindhudurg district had submitted to the state Directorate of Arts a six-foot clay model of the same statue as per the procedure, which had been approved by it last year, officials said on Friday.

The directorate grants approval to the statues of iconic personalities if they are found to be carrying the facial and other physical features of those personalities well.

The 35-foot statue of the Maratha empire founder, installed at Rajkot fort in Sindhudurg's Malvan tehsil and unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in December last year, collapsed on Monday.

The incident triggered a political row as the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) slammed the Eknath Shinde-led Mahayuti government.

Following the incident, the police registered a case against the statue's artist Jaydeep Apte and arrested its structural consultant Chetan Patil.

An official, who did not wish to be named, said, "A six-foot clay scale model of Shivaji Maharaj's statue (proposed to be installed at Rajkot fort) was submitted by the sculptor for approval as per the procedure set by the state government through a GR issued by the general administration department on May 2, 2017."

The directorate issued approval for that scale model on August 7, 2023, he said.

As per the Government Resolution (GR), the agency erecting the statue needs to get the directorate's nod and then ensure that the final statue cast in bronze, fibre or any other material is made in accordance with the approved scale model, the official said.

"But it is wrong to say that despite the directorate giving its approval to a six-foot high statue, the sculptor made a 35-foot statue of Shivaji Maharaj. While giving approval to any statue, the experts at the J J Institute of Arts check the scale model and ensure that it carries the same features of the personality," he said.

But the agency or the sculptor are not bound to make the same-size statue after the directorate's approval for a scale model, sources in the directorate said.

While giving approval to any statue, experts check the artistic and aesthetic features, they said.

"While giving approval to any statue, we ensure that the great personality can be properly identified through its features," an official said, adding that the directorate does not have a role in deciding the material to be used for the final statue.

In the wake of the statue collapse incident, the directorate officials demanded the state government to come up with fresh guidelines and make it mandatory for the artists to procure the final approval from it.