Holy mud collection campain across the state which was held as part of the unveiling of the Kempe Gowda statue on Nov. 11, culminated here at the BIA on Wednesday.

To mark the occasion sacred soil collected from over 22,000 locations across the state was received and mixed symbolically with the mud beneath one of the four towers of the statue.

Dr CN Ashwath Narayan, Minister and Vice- Chairperson of Kempe Gowda Heritage Area Development Authority, member R. Ashoka, Minister MTB Nagaraj, MPs DV Sadananda Gowda, BN Bacche Gowda, Rajyasabha member Jaggesh, MLA SR Viswanath and Bengaluru rural District Commissioner Lata were present.

The event began at 11:00 a.m. with the chanting ot Vedic hymns. The vehicles- Kempegowda Rahtas- which were designated to collect sacred soil from all the 31 districts were received with religious formalities. Holy mud was worshipped along with sacred chants. Ministers and MP’s participated in this.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister Narayan, said, the 21 vehicles collected holy mud from over 22,000 locations including villages, towns and cities in two weeks.

In total vehicles traveled more than 20,000 km and reached 3.61 crore citizens. The publicity through social media platforms has reached 64 lakhs people, he explained.

Exccept Bengaluru, no airport in the world has such a tall statue statue of its founder and this goes as a record in World Book of Records, Narayan noted

The project which includes installation of the statue and development of Kempe Gowda theme park in an area of 23 acres would cost Rs. 84 Crore for the government.