Bhubaneswar, June 3: The eyesore that had blocked view of the famous warrior and the horse statue at Master Canteen Square has been removed.

Good sense has finally dawned on police and they have taken away the closed circuit television (CCTV) camera that was hosted on a bamboo pole and tied to the statue, which is considered to be the state’s emblem.

Though the CCTV camera tied to the bamboo pole still finds place within the roundabout, it is at a distance from the famous sculpture.

On May 22, The Telegraph had published a report on how the already damaged statue is getting disfigured because of the CCTV camera placed there to keep a watch on the movement of people on Mahatma Gandhi Marg, which leads to the Assembly and the secretariat.

“We will check the location of the CCTV camera and if there is anything objectionable, it will be removed from the place immediately,” Sharma had told The Telegraph on May 21.

The dharna sthal or officially designated demonstration area near the Assembly is around 200 metres away from the stone monument. The replica of the famous warrior and the horse sculpture, originally found at the Sun temple in Konark, was placed in the centre of the roundabout by the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) in 1988.

However, due to the lack of proper care, not only is the statue in bad shape, but the stone tiles from the platform have gone missing at many places. In 2012, the iron grill around the roundabout was demolished only to be replaced with a stonewall.

The state emblem, commonly known as “Konark horse”, symbolises discipline, strength and progress.

As the warriors of the Kalinga had fought bravely, the state government made it part of its emblem just like the Union government had made the lion-head on Ashokan pillar its official symbol.

Senior citizen Nrupa Kishore Patnaik appreciated the action of the police in removing the CCTV attached to the statue. “As conscious citizens, we should always try to keep monuments, their replicas and beautification projects in good shape so that our next generation would feel proud of them,” said Patnaik, a retired government employee.

The BDA authorities should immediately take up repair of the famous warrior and the horse statue, he said. When asked about the sorry state of the statue, BDA chief horticulturist Ashok N. Dhar said on May 21 that the culture department should look after the upkeep of the statue.

On the other hand, culture director Sushil Kumar Das had said that the statue was erected by BDA and they should take care of it.