Bengaluru, November 15: Karnataka government on Wednesday proposed to build a 125-feet tall statue around the Krishna Raja Sagar reservoir in Mandya district. The proposed statue will be dedicated to the river Cauvery. The ruling Congress-Janata Dal Secular (JDS) state government also proposed to build a museum complex, two glass towers measuring 360 feet providing a bird's eye view of KRS reservoir. There is also a proposal to build a bandstand an indoor stadium and a replica of historical monuments to boost tourism in the region.

The total estimated cost of the project is Rs 1,200 crore. Karnataka Water Resources Minister DK Shivakumar and Tourism Minister Sa Ra Mahesh held a meeting with officials on Tuesday. Shivkumar told media that a new lake would be created next to the reservoir on which structures will come up, and the statue would be installed atop the museum complex and between the glass towers. He also clarified that the except for land, the state government is not making any investments. The water resource minister claimed that the statue would be taller than the KCR reservoir.

The announcement to build Cauvery statue has come days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the 182-feet tall statue of Congress veteran and the first home minister of the India Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. The statue is named as Statue of Unity. It touted as the world's tallest statue, is built at Kevadiya in Gujarat. The Statue of Unity of Sardar Patel is located on a river island called Sadhu bet which faces the Narmada Dam.

Similarly, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Maharashtra is also building a 210 meters tall statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in the Arabian Sea near Mumbai. The total cost of the project will be around Rs 3,600. The sculpture of the warrior king on his horse will be 75.7 metres, and the length of the sword will be 45.5 metres. In June this year, the government entered into an agreement with Larsen and Toubro for the project. It will take approximately 36 months to build the statue.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 15, 2018 04:18 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).