The 70-foot statue of Lionel Messi in Lake Town has been tied with ropes for “public safety”.
“The harnessing was completed on Wednesday,” said Sharadwat Mukherjee, the new BJP MLA of Bidhannagar.
Senior officers of the state public works department (PWD) went for an inspection after the harnessing was done.
PWD engineers found the statue “unsafe” during an inspection on Monday. Residents said the structure was swaying in the wind.
But no agency is taking the responsibility of pulling the football legend down, BJP sources said.
Mukherjee had taken up the issue with municipal affairs minister Agnimitra Paul, who contacted the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL).
The PWD said that as they did not grant permission to erect it, they could not pull it down. The NHAI mentioned that the statue is off VIP Road and not on a highway, hence outside its jurisdiction.
RVNL has more work to do than dismantling statues, sources in the BJP were told.
The statue was built by Sreebhumi Sporting Club, whose president was former minister Sujit Bose, now in the custody of the Enforcement Directorate for alleged corruption.
The fibreglass structure had drawn criticism for its appearance when it was installed in December 2025.