40-Ft-Tall Hockey Player Statue Collapses In Rourkela, Probe Ordered

The 40-foot-tall symbolic statue of a hockey player, installed near the Rourkela airport in Odisha five months ago as part of the beautification drive taken up just before the Hockey Men's World Cup, failed to face even a brief spell of Nor'wester, locally known as Kal Baishakhi, and gave in to the gust winds on Sunday.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had unveiled the statue, built at a cost of Rs 30.68 lakh. The giant statue, dedicated to the hockey players, was installed in the middle of a small park with fountains developed around it on the road junction between Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium and the airport of the Steel City.

As it fell sideways, both legs of the statue broke as it could not withstand the strong winds. The incident has exposed the shoddy works carried out hurriedly to meet the World Cup deadline. Local residents have attributed the collapse of the statue to poor quality work and the use of substandard materials.

"The statue was erected overnight. Due to low-quality work and use of substandard materials, the statute fell to the ground at a time when not even a tree branch has been found to have been broken in the mild thunderstorm which lasted just for around 10 minutes," a city resident said on the condition of anonymity.

The site had became a prominent site of of attraction and favourite spot for local residents to spend their leisure time. However, when the statue fell to the ground, there was no one in the park, as per a report published in Odishatv.in.

Meanwhile, the city civic body has formed an independent fact-finding committee to probe into the incident, according to Municipal Commissioner Dr Subhankar Mohapatra. Member of the committee, comprising the Sub-Collector of Panposh and Superintending Engineer of the Roads and Buildings Division, would visit the site tomorrow to ascertain the exact cause of the incident.

Facing widespread criticism over the incident, the city administration was quick to hint at a sabotage angle to save itself from embarrassment. "The committee would inquire into all the reasons including structural defects and sabotage. The sabotage angle cannot be ruled out as some evidence has been found in this regard after preliminary investigation," said Mohapatra, who is also the CEO of Rourkela Smart City Ltd.