Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Statue Took 26,000 Man-Hrs To Crave

PM Modi will unveil the statue on Thursday

To crave a grand and lavish statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, a team of sculptors spent 26,000 man-hours of "intense artistic endeavour." The status is to be unveiled at the India Gate from a monolithic block of granite weighing 280 MT, the Culture Ministry said on Wednesday.

A 100-ft-long truck with 140 wheels was specially designed for this giant granite stone to travel 1,665 km from Khammam in Telangana to New Delhi, it said.

According to the officials, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will Thursday inaugurate the newly-christened Kartavya Path - a stretch from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate- and will also unveil the 28-ft statue of Bose at India Gate.

Installation work was underway on Wednesday on the eve of its unveiling. It will be housed in the India Gate canopy.

The jet black granite statue has been carved from a monolithic block of granite weighing 280 MT, the Culture Ministry said in a statement.

"After 26,000 man-hours of intense artistic endeavour, the granite monolith was chiselled to produce a statue weighing 65 MT," it said.

The ministry also said The statue is completely "hand sculpted using traditional techniques and modern tools". The team of sculptors was led by Arun Yogiraj.

The statue is being installed at the same place where a 'hologram statue' of Netaji was unveiled earlier this year on Parakram Diwas (January 23) by the prime minister to mark the 125th birth anniversary of Bose, it said.

The towering statue of Netaji is "one of the tallest, realistic, monolithic, handmade sculptures in India".

The prime minister had on January 21 assured that a grand statue of Netaji made of granite will be installed at India Gate as a symbol of the nation's "indebtedness" to him.