Somewhere in Uttar Pradesh....

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati is all set to unveil 40 statues — including six of her own — on July 3, along with the Kanshi Ram Memorial and the Gautam Buddhasthals, which has cost the state exchequer dear. According to the reply of an RTI filed in the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA), statues of Mayawati and Kanshi Ram at various places in Lucknow and erected by LDA, cost Rs 6.68 crore. And, the 60 marble elephants at the Ambedkar memorial cost Rs 52 crore, according to the reply. If the figures in the Uttar Pradesh budget are anything to go by, this is just the tip of the iceberg. The Uttar Pradesh culture department’s budget for 2009-10 shows that in 2008-09, the department had allocated more than Rs 194 crore for building statues of ‘‘great leaders’’ — the entire amount was spent.