Fresh SC rap ends Mayawati’s statue spree

A fresh and sharp warning from the Supreme Court on Friday seems to have finally ended Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati's egoistical statue-building spree. By evening, the construction sites of various memorials wore a deserted look, with workmen and machinery having been removed.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had taken suo motu notice of media reports that the state government was continuing work on the memorials in flagrant violation the court's ban on further work issued on 8 August.

''We generally do not go by newspaper reports. We ignore them. But it is a very serious matter. You are playing with fire. Our orders cannot be violated,'' a bench comprising Justices B N Agrawal and Aftab Alam observed.

The court gave a six-hour deadline to completely stop work on the gigantic memorials devoted to Bahujan Samaj Party icons, including Mayawati herself. Well before the deadline expired, all these sites wore a deserted look.

However, unlike the past three days when media persons were barred from entering the sites, officials on Friday evening happily allowed photographers and reporters onto the premises to report on the government's compliance of the court's order.

No labourer was seen working, and heavy machinery was being carted out of the premises as ordered by the court. Normally, work is on at these sites round-the-clock. The drone of heavy machinery and the grating screech of hundreds of stone-cutters are routine as an estimated 5,000 workers toil every day, regardless of sun or rain.

These workers, a large number of them from faraway states such as Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, are likely to be the worst-hit in the continuing tug-of-war between the state and the court. "We don't know what to do, whether to stay or leave," said Kumaran, a Tamil artisan whose wife and two sons have also been working here for almost a year now.

Mayawati's mega projects in Lucknow which have come under the court's censure include Ambedkar Park (estimated cost Rs2,000 crore) and Kanshi Ram Memorial (Rs370 crore). The total bill of the nine ongoing projects here is about Rs2,700 crore - all being footed from taxpayer money.