AFTER STATUE OF UNITY, KARNATAKA PLANS TO INSTALL 125 FT MOTHER CAUVERY STATUE TO BOOST TOURISM

There seems to be no end to the statue craze in India. And the South has joined the club too.

After the world's tallest statue, 'Statue of Unity' was unveiled last month, the Karnataka government is now planning to install a 125 feet tall statue of Mother Cauvery near the Krishnarajasagara Dam on Cauvery River in Mandya district.

Estimated at a cost of Rs 1,200 crore, it will require about 400 acres of land and is expected to be ready after two years. The project is being undertaken by the water resources and tourism ministries in a bid to increase tourism.

"We are just coming up with an amusement park for tourism, like Disneyland. Mysore is a destination for tourism. There is the famous Brindavan Garden and we want to enrich it. We want the world to look at it," said irrigation minister DK Shivakumar.

He said the proposal (for the statue) suggests that water will pour from Goddess Cauvery and there will be a place for people to watch from a tower. "It is (like) a tower," he added.

The irrigation minister said the aim of the project is to create a tourist destination and generate revenues for the government as well as employment opportunities.