UP Govt Spends Rs Five Crore Every Month To Secure 400 Statues Of Dalit Icons Built During Mayawati's Tenure
The Special Area Security Corps has been kept intact despite changes in governments, with every guard receiving a minimum salary of Rs 50,000 per month.
Published : September 24, 2025 at 5:09 PM IST
|Updated : September 24, 2025 at 7:09 PM IST
Lucknow: Since the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)'s rule in Uttar Pradesh, with Mayawati at the helm as the chief minister, the government has spent Rs five crore every month on securing statues of Dalit icons in eight parks.
Named the Special Area Security Corps (SASC), the security apparatus has been kept intact, despite several changes in the regime. Eight parks in Lucknow, Noida and the Delhi-NCR, with over 400 statues, are being guarded by approximately 800 personnel of SASC.
Each statue is guarded 24x7 by security personnel in three shifts of eight hours each. The duties consist of foot patrolling, stationing at fixed points, and mobile patrolling. Each park has 50 to 100 personnel with varying shifts who earn a minimum monthly salary of Rs 50,000. Being permanent employees, they get the benefit of medical reimbursement and other allowances.
In the past 15 years, the real need for security has arisen only once, when Mayawati's statue at Bhagadari Bhawan Road was vandalised in 2012, raising questions about the system. The attackers identified themselves as members of the Uttar Pradesh Navnirman Sena. The then chief minister, Akhilesh Yadav, condemned the attack and promised strict action against the culprits. The police registered a case and launched an investigation. The damaged statue was quickly repaired and reinstalled. However, the incident exposed lapses in security.
The technical security at these parks is in shambles, as most of the CCTV cameras are outdated and incapable of covering wider areas. Alarm systems are almost nonexistent, and fencing is partially in place, with low height making it easy to cross. Mobile patrol vehicles are available, but their numbers are limited to 2 to 3 for each park.
However, the security guards serve without shelter, in summer, winter, and rain, and receive only a few rewards. Rajesh Singh, who guards Mayawati's statue, said, "We have no problem with the duty as we are dedicated to protecting the statues. But we also need some facilities as there is no shelter, whether it's winter, summer, or rainy."
Hem Singh, another security guard, said, "We can handle weapons as we are trained. We should be provided with weapons."
Guard Madan Singh said, "Our duties are very demanding. We should at least be given some posts where we can take shelter during bad weather."
Brijesh Dubey, another security personnel, said, "Our shifts change frequently. We are also deployed from Noida to Lucknow."
"Reports have been sought from the officers in charge of all the parks about the problems faced by the employees. Once the problems are compiled, positive efforts will be made to resolve them," Prachi Singh of SASC said.
During her chief ministership from 2007 to 2012, Mayawati commissioned the construction of six parks in Lucknow and two in Noida, where magnificent statues of Dalit icons were installed. These include life-size statues of Bhimrao Ambedkar, Kanshi Ram, saint Kabir Das, saint Ravi Das, Jyotiba Phule, Ramabai Ambedkar, Narayan Guru, Chhatrapati Shahuji, Mayawati and 12 other Dalit icons.
The prominent locations for these statues in Lucknow are the Ambedkar Memorial Park (Bhagidari Bhawan Path, Gomti Nagar), Kanshi Ram Memorial Park, and Dalit Chetna Sthal in Noida. In addition, there are hundreds of statues of elephants. Approximately Rs 5,000 crore was spent from the government coffers for their installation, according to various reports, with each bronze statue costing up to Rs 45 lakh.
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