Madhavrao Scindia’s statue removed for road widening in MP, 2 officials suspended

The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has suspended two of its officials and issued show-cause notices to others in Madhya Pradesh’s Katni district over the removal of former Union Minister Madhavrao Scindia’s statue in an “objectionable manner”, officials said on Saturday.
A video of the statue being shifted with the help of an earthmoving machine with a noose tied around the structure’s neck also surfaced on social media.
According to officials, the Katni bypass of National Highway-30 is being widened as a four-lane road. During the construction of the stretch, the statue of Madhavrao Scindia, already installed at the Chaka bypass, was to be shifted by the administration after identifying another place for it. However, the construction agency removed the statue on Saturday in an objectionable manner with the help of an earthmoving machine.
Madhavrao Scindia was the father of Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, who quit the Congress and joined the ruling BJP in 2020.
The construction agency’s senior engineer, Manoj Verma, engineer Ashish Singh Parihar, engineer of National Highway Authority of India, Rajesh Kumar Nema, and assistant bridge engineer Deepak Soni were found guilty and were suspended over the incident.
The action was taken after the matter was brought to BJP MP VD Sharma’s attention, who expressed strong displeasure over the removal of the statue, saying it was an insult to the former political leader.
“This kind of insensitivity towards the statue of a great man who contributed to nation-building and the welfare of society is unacceptable,” VD Sharma said. He directed the collector and NHAI officials to relocate the statue to some other place with honour.
Following the MP’s directions, the NHAI swung into action and suspended the engineers with immediate effect. The statue for now has been shifted to a nearby location.
“In this case, the responsible officers of the authority have also been directed to submit a reply within three days by issuing a show-cause notice regarding negligence towards work,” NHAI said.