Shivaji statue collapse: Maha govt sets up 2 panels

The Maharashtra Government has set up a technical committee comprising engineers, IIT experts and Navy officials to probe reasons behind the collapse of Shivaji Maharaj statue at Malvan in coastal Konkan, an official said.

A release issued by the Chief Minister's office after midnight said the government has also constituted a committee to build a "grand statute befitting the stature" of the warrior king.

The decision was taken by CM Eknath Shinde, who chaired a meeting with senior ministers, bureaucrats and Navy officials at his official residence Varsha in South Mumbai Wednesday night, the release said.

An FIR has been registered against the contractor of the 35-foot statue which collapsed on Monday just eight months after it was unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 4.

The FIR follows a complaint by the Public Works Department, which claims the statue's construction was of poor quality, and the nuts and bolts used in the structure were found to be rusted. 

Meanwhile, a structural engineer named in the case registered in connection with the collapse of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's statue claimed that he was not the structural consultant for the project.

Speaking to Marathi news channel ABP Majha, Chetan Patil, named in the FIR along with artist Jaydeep Apte, said he had submitted the design of the platform to the Indian Navy through the Public Works Department (PWD), but he had nothing to do with the statue itself.

"A Thane-based company did the statue-related work," he said.

"I was just asked to work on the platform on which the statue was being erected," Patil added.

The 35-foot statue of the 17th century Maratha empire founder, installed at Rajkot Fort in Sindhudurg district's Malvan tehsil collapsed on August 26, nearly nine months after it was unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The incident has snowballed into a major political controversy with the opposition MVA targeting the Shiv Sena-BJP-NCP government and seeking Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's resignation.