The Parashurama statue at Parashurama Theme Park in Bailoor in Karkala taluk of Karnataka. | Photo Credit: H S MANJUNATH Allegations that the 35-feet Parashurama statue in the Parashurama Theme Park at Karkala, in Dakshina Kannada district, was made of fiberglass have proved to be false. A test report by National Institute of Technology-Karnataka (NIT-K) states that the statue is made of brass, sources told The Hindu. Former Energy Minister and BJP MLA from Karkala V. Sunil Kumar, who spearheaded the theme park project and came under fire over allegations of corruption and that the statue was made of fiberglass, told The Hindu, “I have been maintaining that the statue was made from brass, not fiber material. The report has confirmed the same,” he said. The Parashurama Theme Park with a 35-feet Parashurama statue, was inaugurated in 2023 by the then BJP-led State Government. However, days after the facility was thrown open to the public it was shut down to carry out repairs on the statue. Officials cited a design flaw. After the torso was dismantled, the issue snowballed into a major controversy with many Congress leaders alleging corruption, and that the statue was not made of brass, but fiberglass. The Congress-led State Government ordered a Criminal Investigation Department (CID) probe into alleged corruption in the project, which is underway. On March 12, 2024, Udupi Nirmiti Kendra wrote to the Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, NIT-K, Surathkal asking them to test the statue for materials used. After investigating samples collected from the statue, a team headed by Dr. Mohammad Rizwanur Rahman, concluded that the statue is made up of 80% copper and 20% zinc, essentially brass. “This analysis provides conclusive evidence that the material used in the statue samples in brass, with the composition of approximately 80% copper and 20% zinc,” according to the report. Mr. Kumar said that the BJP had no objection to the CID probe ordered into the project. “But the Congress-led State Government had neither completed the probe in over a year nor started restoring the Parashurama statue. This has essentially kept Karkala off the tourism map of Karnataka,” he said.  Published – September 09, 2024 10:20 am IST