Bengaluru: A nine-member committee has been constituted by the State-run Karnataka Rural Infrastructure Development Ltd. (KRIDL) to oversee the construction of a 111-ft statue of spiritual leader Shivakumara Swami, the late pontiff of the Siddaganga Mutt.
According to a KRIDL order, the committee will be led by retired High Court Justice G. Patri Basavana Goud.
Following the death of the influential Lingayat pontiff, known as the ‘Walking God,’ in January 2019 at the age of 111, the government had announced that his native village Veerapura in Magadi, Ramanagara, would be developed as a cultural centre.
The 111-ft statue atop a two-storey base will be erected in Veerapura.
PSAP Architects has been given the project, with Galagali Associates serving as the project management company.
The government has sanctioned a budget of Rs. 25 crore for the project.
Former DGP Shankar Bidari, former IAS officer MB Dyaberi, senior Congress leader Eshwar Khandre, former Bengaluru Mayor B. S. Puttaraju, former Professor K. Basavaraju, Chitrakala Parishat principal Tejendra Singh Baoni, Rudresh, and the KRIDL superintending engineer of the BBMP zone are among the members of the committee that will oversee the statue’s construction.
