Nitin Gadkari's 'stainless steel' remark on Chhatrapati Shivaji's statue gets Sharad Pawar's pat

In what could spiral into a controversy, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday suggested that if stainless steel had been used for Chhatrapati Shivaji's statue, it would not have collapsed. Speaking at a Ficci event, Gadkari expressed frustration over previous experiences with construction materials, noting that while he had pushed for stainless steel in coastal areas, his earlier projects did not always adhere to this recommendation. He recounted an incident where iron rods were coated with powder to prevent rust, which ultimately proved ineffective. The statue of the 17th century Maratha warrior king at Rajkot fort in Malvan tehsil fell on August 26, over eight months after it was unveiled by PM Modi on the occasion of Navy Day.

During an event, Nitin Gadkari said, "...Stainless steel should be used in the construction of bridges built close to the sea...If stainless steel had been used for the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji, it would have never collapsed. When I was executing the construction of 55 flyovers in Mumbai (as Maharashtra minister), a person fooled me. He put some powder coating on iron rods and said those were rust-proof. But there was rusting. I feel that stainless steel should be used within 30 km of the sea..."

Sharad Pawar's compliments

Interestingly, Nationalist Congress Party (SP) chief Sharad Pawar applauded the Union Minister for his work and advocated his comments on the collapse. The veteran leader said, "Gadkari does any work with full dedication and the standard of work is also good. Apart from Mumbai Pune Expressway or Kolhapur Belgaum Road, many good roads are being built in the country today and Nitin Gadkari has contributed to this. I have said this in Parliament also, there is no need to bring any politics into it."

"Therefore, if Nitin Gadkari had said this (comment on Chhatrapati Shivaji), I think he must have said it only after taking the opinion of experts," he added. Pawar also alleged that "corruption" was the cause of the collapse of the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj on Rajkot fort in Sindhudurg district last month.