Statue of Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee all ready to be unveiled on Friday

Dec. 24: Amidst much fanfare, the statue of former Prime Minister, Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee is all ready to be unveiled on Friday. Union Minister of Road Transport and  Highways,  Nitin Gadkari will unveil the statue of Vajpayee whose dream project was the East West Corridor. The occasion will also be graced by Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, BJP state President Ranjit Kumar Das and a host of other dignitaries.

The statue has been designed by artist Chandra Shekhar Das. The 13 feet bronze statue has been built at a cost of Rs 15 lakh. In 1994, the Golden Quadrilateral Project for East-West corridor was conceived by Vajpayee so that the North could connect to South and East to West for smooth passenger traffic as well as freight movement.

The East West Corridor was indeed a dream project of Vajpayee. However, the irony of the fact is that a stretch of around 32 kms of Road is still unfinished. Former Silchar MP & President of All India Mahila Congress, Sushmita Dev took a dig at the BJP and said, “If they really wanted to show respect to Atalji, then should have first completed his dream project and then set up his statue.”

Only time can say when the 32 kms stretch will be completed and people of Barak Valley can witness their long cherished Mahasadak.