YSR’s statues in Andhra Pradesh’s illegal statues list

After carrying out a detailed survey on statues in Andhra Pradesh, the Roads and Buildings department submitted a report to the government over statues of late Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy topping the list of illegal statues that are blocking the right of way on various roads.

Around 50 illegal statues were found out of which 47 are YS Rajasekhara Reddy’s in the two revenue divisions of Visakhapatnam and Paderu alone in Visakhapatnam district. In the report, the R&B department stated that these statues are occupying the right of way on government lands; also central dividers and footpaths have been trespassed. No permission was obtained from local civic authorities in majority of the cases.

Across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, statues were put up on a large scale by YSR’s followers, YSRC and Congress activists, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy after YSR’s death. Other national and political leaders’ statues were erected much before the filing of petition against statues in 2011 in the High Court.

Now, the demand from the YSRC leaders is that a survey to be conducted by the state government on all the existing statues and not the ones set up in the year 2011.In 2013, a government order had stated that the statues if unavoidable, should be erected only in public gardens, large traffic islands, parks, premises of government buildings, places of public importance or town halls.