Minister for Housing and district in charge Minister Ch. Ranganatha Raju unveiled a bronze statue of Pingali Venkaiah set up at the Collector office here on Monday.
Mr. Raju said that statue of Mr. Venkaiah was set up to mark 75 years of independence with the ‘Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav’ programme in March 2021.
While heeding to the call given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to celebrate the momentous journey of the country by honouring its freedom fighters, Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had visited the house of Pingali Seetha Mahalakshmi, daughter of the late Venkaiah, the architect of India’s national flag, on March 12, 2021 and presented her a cheque for ₹75 lakh. Later, the Chief Minister had urged Mr. Modi to confer Bharat Ratna posthumously on Venkaiah.
Born on August 2, 1876 at Bhatlapenumarru village near Machilipatnam, Venkaiah was deeply influenced by Gandhian thoughts and ideology and decided to dedicate his life to the service of the nation and take part in freedom movement, Mr. Raju said.
Collector Vivek Yadav said that Venkaiah was filled with a passion to design a national flag, one that would fill the hearts of millions of Indians with the spirit of freedom, independence and duty to carry on with the struggle until the motherland was unshackled from the chains of slavery.
