Three statues—of former united Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy, Dr BR Ambedkar, and Mahatma Gandhi—were removed from their pedestals at the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) head office on Tuesday, nearly 15 years after their installation.
The statues, located on the eastern side of the GHMC office at Tank Bund, remained unveiled and wrapped in white cloth since their placement in 2010. The decision to remove them was taken as part of a plan to relocate them properly and install a water fountain at the current site.
On May 22, the GHMC Standing Committee, led by Mayor Gadwal Vijayalaxmi, passed a resolution to relocate the statues. The move comes after years of legal and political controversies that stalled their official unveiling.
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In 2010, a unanimous resolution was passed by then-Mayor Banda Karthika Reddy to install a statue of YS Rajasekhar Reddy, following his tragic death in a helicopter crash in 2009. However, the decision sparked political opposition, and the matter eventually reached the High Court. Due to the ongoing court case, the three statues were never officially inaugurated.
According to a town planning officer, authorities are still working on identifying suitable locations for reinstallation. “It is a long-standing issue, and no final decision has been made yet,” the officer said.
The statues’ removal marks a step toward resolving a decade-and-a-half-old civic and political stalemate, as GHMC looks to redesign the space for better use.
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