Shivaji Statue Contract

Sculptor-contractor Jaydeep Apte, wanted in connection with the collapse of the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj at Rajkot fort last month, was arrested from Kalyan in Thane district on Wednesday night, a senior police official said. Sindhudurg police in Maharashtra were searching for Apte (24) since the statue made by him collapsed on August 26, less than nine months after it was inaugurated. Police had formed seven teams to look for him. After the statue collapsed, Malvan police registered a case against Apte and structural consultant Chetan Patil for negligence and other offences. Patil was arrested from Kolhapur last week. The collapse of the statue of the iconic founder of the Maratha state has triggered a huge political row ahead of assembly elections in Maharashtra with the Opposition targeting the Eknath Shinde-led government. Reacting to the development, BJP leader Pravin Darekar said, "Those who were critical of our government must shut their mouths now. It is true .

The 210-metre-high statue of the Maratha warrior king Shivaji has moved closer to reality with the state government finally awarding the contract to build the much-delayed memorial in the Arabian Sea to engineering major Larsen & Toubro (L&T). The Devendra Fadnavis government today gave the letter of acceptance to the city-based engineering major that will build the project at a cost Rs 2,500 crore on an engineering, procurement and construction model. The state had received three bids: from Reliance Infrastructure, Afcons Infrastructure and L&T in the second round of bidding. In the first bidding round around two years ago, L&T had quoted Rs 3,826 crore for the project, which was 1,326 crore more than the cost estimated by the government and thus rejected. Government had pegged the overall project cost Rs 3,600 crore, with Rs 1,100 crore for the second phase and the entire cost will be funded by public money. "L&T had qualified on all technical and ..