Shillong, April 21: The patriotic monument of Meghalaya on the premises of State Central Library will be transformed with the incorporation of statues of three freedom fighters, U Tirot Sing Syiem, U Kiang Nangbah and Pa Togan N Sangma.
Arts and Culture Minister Sanbor Shullai on Thursday visited the site along with the department’s Commissioner & Secretary Frederick Roy Kharkongor, Director WAM Booth and Raphael Warjri, Chief Creative Director of Riti Academy of Visual Arts who will be executing the project.
The existing towering pyramid will be enhanced with the incorporation of the three significant figures of freedom fighters and supplemented the structure with a dynamic figurative, the proper platform for laying of wreaths and the overall visual impact of the area.
The aspiration of the citizens of the state will be fulfilled with the innovation and the Minister is responding to the public anxiety and the suggestions made by some youth organisations.
Shullai said some local organisations have mooted the idea of a figurative image of freedom fighters of Meghalaya in the likes of other monuments of national figures like that of Indira Gandhi and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’. The new monument will boost the morale of the youth and inspire the allegiance for the state and the country on the auspicious period of the fiftieth anniversary of statehood of Meghalaya and the seventy fifth anniversary of national freedom struggle, Azadi Ki Amrit Mahotsav.
“As a minister in charge of the department I have accepted this very constructive suggestion. So immediately I have written a letter and accordingly the state government has sanctioned Rs 30 lakh as the first installment for implementing the project,” he said.
Shullai also informed that artist Raphael Warjri will execute the artworks through society, Riti Academy, ‘It is a positive gesture to promote local talents also and Raphael has proven his mettle with the artistic mural at the prominent location of the city’.
“We have given a timeframe that he should complete within 3 months and we hope by August 15, which is the country’s Independence Day, we will inaugurate the three life size statues of our freedom fighters,” the minister said.
