Sculptures made of scrap metal to deck up Elliot’s Beach

According to a Chennai Corporation official, unused vehicle parts are sourced from the civic body’s vehicle (lorry) shed in Basin Bridge. “The parts that cannot be used again are utilised for making sculptures. The bigger parts were taken from the lorry shed, while smaller parts were procured from scrap markets in Pudupet and Guindy. These parts are usually sent to the scrap shops,” the official said.

He added that sculptors from Andhra Pradesh, Delhi and other parts of the country had participated in a nation-wide sculptors’ camp held in the city recently, during which they made 14 sculptures for the civic body. Apart from this, the Industrial Training Institute in Guindy also made five metal sculptures that are kept insidethe campus.

The Corporation’s scrap sculptures would be placed in Elliot’s Beach and traffic islands in and around Besant Nagar in Adyar zone. Presently, the sculptures are stored in a Chennai Corporation school in Tiruvanmiyur.

“As the major portion of the scrap for the sculptures was sourced from our lorry shed, we had to spend only Rs 25 lakh for the 14 sculptures. We wanted to cut down the cost further, but we had to procure smaller parts from scrap shops. A similar initiative has been taken up elsewhere in the State like Thoothukudi and Salem,” he said.

The metal sculptures include dancing woman, sailor, shark, fisherman, mermaid, Jallikattu bull and bull tamer, farmer, prawn, panther and crab.

Explaining the move to convert scrap into sculptures, the official said that the civic body has taken up an initiative to convert all the waste items into recyclable and reusable items. “So, we wanted to reuse the unused automobile parts, which would otherwise be sent to scrap,” he added.