‘Rupali Guitar’ needs attention

On a visit to Prabartak intersection in the port city last weekend, Chittagong University student Apu Saha became shocked to see the battered state of the sculpture Rupali Guitar, which had been installed in remembrance of the late and great musician Ayub Bachchu.

A layer of dust was covering the guitar while the surrounding fountain and garden were in a shabby state. Apu, a dedicated fan of Bachchu's music, was rightly angered to see the lack of maintenance done by the city corporation for upkeep of the sculpture.

This correspondent visited the spot later in the week to check on its condition. A security guard named Rajib, appointed by Script, a private organisation that is supposed to do maintenance work of the sculpture, said they have cleaned the installation about 15 days ago.

Asked why they were not cleaning it every day, he suggested to talk to his boss. Contacted, Enamul Hasan, director of Script, said they stopped cleaning the structure for the time being as works of road development were underway in the area. "We will clean it regularly once the construction work is completed," he said.

The Chattogram City Corporation inaugurated the Rupali Guitar sculpture at Prabartak intersection in the city of Chattogram, where Bachchu was born and brought up, just after a year of his death on September 18, 2019. Bachchu passed away on October 18, 2018.

The sculpture is made of stainless steel. It is 18 feet high and the height  of its base is four feet.  The guitar contains six strings also made of steel bars. The whole project cost Tk three crore, said sources in CCC.

The then local CCC councillor (ward-15) Gias Uddin took the initiative to build the sculpture while the then CCC mayor AJM Nasir Uddin inaugurated it.

The sculpture and the surrounding fountain were made very eye-catching, but maintaining it in a bustling city where construction and pollution are omnipresent remains a difficult task. Asked, Gias Uddin said although he initiated the sculpture on behalf of CCC, he  cannot oversee it as his tenure expired in March and CCC polls could not be held in time due to the pandemic.

"I am vying for the councillor post once again in the polls scheduled to be held on January 27.  If elected, I will definitely take care it," he said.

CCC executive engineer Farhad-ul-Alam said a deal was completed with the private organisation for maintenance. "Perhaps they are not performing their duty properly," he said.

Contacted, CCC  Administrator Khorshed Alam Sujan said he would write to the organisation which is supposed to maintain the sculpture.