Under fire over Shivaji statue collapse, Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde holds meeting with top government, Navy officials

Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde held a meeting with top state government and Navy officials on late Wednesday night and discussed the collapse of a Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue in Sindhudurg district two days ago.

The incident has caused an acute embarrassment to the Mahayuti government ahead of the assembly polls, drawn intense criticism from the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and sparked protests.

The high-level meeting was attended by Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Iqbal Singh Chahal, Director General of Police Rashmi Shukla, Additional Chief Secretary (Public Works) Manisha Mhaiskar and Additional Chief Secretary (Urban Development) Asim Gupta, among others.

Vice-Admiral Ajay Kochar and Rear Admiral Manish Chadha were also present.

Earlier in the day, another Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar apologised to the people of the state for the collapse of the statue of Shivaji Maharaj, a revered figure in Maharashtra, and vowed to punish the guilty.

The 35-foot statue of the 17th century Maratha empire founder installed at Rajkot Fort in Sindhudurg district's Malvan tehsil collapsed on August 26, nearly nine months after it was unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The state government has maintained that the structure was designed and built by the Navy and ordered a probe into the crash episode.

"Along with the state government and concerned specialists, the Navy has deputed a team to immediately investigate the cause of this unfortunate accident and initiate steps to repair, restore and reinstate the statue at the earliest," according to a statement by the naval force issued on Tuesday.

Navy and Public Works Department (PWD) personnel have visited the site.

The Sindhudurg police have registered a case against contractor Jaydeep Apte and structural consultant Chetan Patil, both involved in the project. In its complaint, the state PWD has alleged the statue's construction work was of poor quality.

The statue collapse incident has snowballed into a major political controversy with the opposition MVA targeting the Shiv Sena-BJP-NCP government and seeking Chief Minister Shinde's resignation.