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Agreement cancelled, now govt to install Buddha statue itself
LUCKNOW The state cabinet on Monday decided to cancel the 2003 agreement with Maitreya Trust to install the tallest statue of Gautam Buddha in Kushinagar.
LUCKNOW The state cabinet on Monday decided to cancel the 2003 agreement with Maitreya Trust to install the tallest statue of Gautam Buddha in Kushinagar.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath presided over the meeting of the cabinet, which also decided that the project would now be implemented by the state government.
“The cabinet has decided to cancel the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Maitreya Trust to install the tallest statue of Buddha in Buddha Circuit in Kushinagar district. An amendment to the MoU was carried out in 2014 and 195 acres of land was handed over to the trust. Yet, the trust has not even submitted a detailed project report and no work has been carried out there till 2017 despite repeated reminders,” said UP ministers and government spokesmen Shrikant Sharma and Siddharth Nath Singh while briefing media persons here.
Minister of state (independent charge) for tourism Neelkanth Tiwari said, besides installing the tallest statue of Buddha, the MoU proposed to set up a hospital, meditation centre, Buddha Vihar and a guest house etc in Kushi Nagar.
“First notice was given to the Maitreya Trust on April 25, 2018 when no work was carried out there till 2017. The trust did not submit a DPR and also failed to explain how it proposed to get funds for the project,” said Tiwari.
“The state government will now implement the project as it was initially conceived. We will implement the project as it is,” said Tiwari.
A history of the project, as given on the Maitreya Buddha Project, Kushinagar website, said Lama Yeshe had initiated the Maitreya Project in 1982 after returning from his first visit to Tibet since fleeing Tibet in 1959. Lama’s vision was to build a huge statue of Maitreya, the future Buddha in Bodhgaya, Bihar. It was later decided to be implemented in Kushinagar.
Undue delay in implementation of the project had led to agitation of farmers, who demanded that their land be returned to them. The project initially proposed to have a 500 feet tall statue of Buddha. Later the proposed size of the statue was cut down to 200 feet.
Kushinagar MLA Rajnikant Mani Tripathi said he had raised the issue in the state assembly after being elected MLA in 2017 and requested the chief minister to cancel the project. He said the state cabinet had cancelled the project on the basis of an inquiry conducted by the district administration following delay in its implementation.
Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee president Ajay Kumar Lallu, who represents Tamkuhiraj assembly constituency of Kushinagar in the state assembly, said the state government should now return the land of farmers following cancellation of the MoU. Lallu said there was no point in implementing such a delayed project now.
