Following the recent collapse of the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Malvan, the state public works department has swiftly moved to issue a tender for the construction of a new statue. The Kankavli division of the PWD announced the tender on Tuesday, with ₹20 crore allocated for the project. Ajaykumar Sarvagod, the executive engineer of PWD in Kankavli, emphasized that “we will exercise greater caution this time,” stating that the new statue will be modeled after the Statue of Unity in Gujarat. While the previous statue stood at 33 feet tall, the new one will rise to 60 feet. The selected bidder must guarantee the statue's durability for 100 years and provide maintenance for the first 10 years. The tender specifies that the statue must be completed within six months. The original statue was unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 4, the eve of Navy Day, at Sindhudurg, but its collapse on August 26 resulted in significant embarrassment for both the state and central governments.
In response to the incident, the state established two committees: one to investigate the causes of the collapse and another, led by Additional Chief Secretary (PWD) Manisha Mhaiskar, to oversee the creation of a grand statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. The latter committee includes Sadashiv Salunke, Secretary PWD (roads); Commodore S. Doraibabu of the Indian Navy; R.S. Jangid and S. Parida of IIT Mumbai; Rajiv Mishra, director of J.J. School of Architecture; Raje Raghuji Angre, a naval historian and descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's admiral Kanhoji Angre; historian Jaisingh Pawar; and others.
Following the statue's collapse, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde consulted various sculptors for their views on constructing a new statue. Prime Minister Modi, Chief Minister Shinde, and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar publicly apologized for the incident.The committee investigating the causes of the collapse is headed by Commodore Pawan Dhingra and includes Sanjay Dashpute, Secretary PWD (buildings); Vikas Ramgude, former chief engineer of PWD and a structural engineer; R.S. Jangid from IIT Mumbai's civil engineering department; S. Parida from IIT Mumbai's metallurgical sciences department; Pradeep Kumar, director of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and Central Building Research Institute; and Rajesh Khaire, chief engineer (establishment) of the Central Public Works Department in Chennai. The committee has completed field visits and is finalizing its report.