A worker constructs the pedestal for the Gandhi statue at Eco Park in Patna on Tuesday. Picture by Ashok Sinha

Rajdhani Vatika, popular as Eco Park, would soon become the new address of the 22ft-tall statue of Mahatma Gandhi lying neglected at Gandhi Maidan.

Sources said the decision of shifting Bapu’s old statue had been taken at the chief secretary’s level.

Former chief minister Lalu Prasad had inaugurated the old statue at Gandhi Maidan on October 2, 1990. His successor, Nitish Kumar, inaugurated another taller (79ft) statue of Gandhi a few hundred metres away last year. The older one has been lying neglected ever since.

Darkness envelops the old Gandhi statue because of the absence of proper lighting, while the new statue is bathed in light through the night. The Telegraph had also highlighted the matter in its report “Gandhi versus Gandhi” published on September 16, 2013.

Rajdhani Vatika in-charge Sanjeev Kumar confirmed that the work on shifting the old statue to the park was in progress. “Labourers engaged in the work have been asked to finish the construction work of the pedestal (on which the statue would be installed) in the park within four days. Thereafter, the statue would be shifted here.” He added that the statue would anyhow be installed in the park by November-end.

Gandhi Sanghralaya secretary Razi Ahmed, also a noted Gandhian, was happy to know about the development. “The old statue of Gandhiji was not getting proper care at Gandhi Maidan. While both statues of Gandhiji come under the same administration, the old one was receiving step-motherly treatment. I am happy that the administration is finally going to shift the old Gandhi statue to a new place, where I hope, it would get proper treatment,” said Ahmed.

B.A. Khan, principal chief conservator of forests-cum-additional chief of the Wildlife Warden of Bihar said the work regarding the extension of the park was also in progress.

“We have started working on the extension of the park and the work for extending the park to Aney Marg has already started,” Khan said. He added that according to the plan, two more parts of the park have to be developed, while the third part would run parallel to Aney Marg, the fourth part would be developed along the drain that runs parallel to Hardinge Road, starting behind Haj Bhavan and ending at Sardar Patel Chowk.