Ranchi, Jan. 12: There will be a tall reason to visit Ranchi Lake by the end of this year.
A 33-feet bronze statue of Swami Vivekananda will be installed at the centre of the water body with a bridge leading to it. The project was launched by state tourism minister Amar Kumar Bauri at Audrey House today, the 154th birth anniversary of the visionary of modern India, which is also celebrated as National Youth Day.
Around 1,000 schoolchildren, NSS volunteers and NCC cadets attended the two-hour programme at the sprawling gardens of Audrey House.
While Bauri was the chief guest, the guests of honour were sports director Ranendra Kumar, Ranchi DDC Virendra Kumar Singh and secretary of Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama Swami Bhaveshananda, among others.
The statue, which will have original bronze metal casting, will be installed on a pedestal and will show Vivekananda in his famous Chicago pose (arms folded across chest). Well-known architect and sculptor Anil R. Sutar, who is behind the mammoth 522-feet statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and also the 395-feet model of Shivaji, has been roped in for the project.
"It will take almost six months to complete the statue. I believe that once completed, it will be the country's tallest bronze statue. By December this year, people of Ranchi and tourists from other places will flock to Ranchi Lake to gaze at the statue," Sutar, who was present on the occasion, told The Telegraph.
Minister Bauri said the government was aiming to promote urban tourist hubs so that people could reconnect with nature and centrally located Ranchi Lake had been identified as one such spot.
Bauri also invoked Vivekananda's famous slogan, Utho jago aur tab tak mat ruko jab tak lakshya ki prapti na ho jaye," urging his young audience to imbibe at least one per cent of Swamiji's ideals and values.
Reminding all about Vivekananda's historic Chicago speech in 1893, he said: "You all are still young and should not forget what he had said. You all should try to inculcate his values and not measure yourself by wealth and power."
This was followed by felicitation of 16 youths, who steered the Yuva Jagran Rath across 24 districts of the state to spread the teachings of Swamiji. They had set out on December 21, 2016, and ended the yatra at Audrey House on Thursday.
Various schools and colleges of the city also marked National Youth Day with great fervour. In the morning, a rally was taken out from Albert Ekka Chowk till Audrey House by the state sports, culture and art departments. Essay and speech competitions were held across campuses.
