Virbhadra foundation set up, his statue to be installed on Ridge: Vikramaditya

Almost four years after the demise of the six-time Chief Minister, his family has established the Raja Virbhadra Singh Foundation to take forward the social and charitable work he had undertaken during his lifetime.

“It is a totally non-political organisation, which has been established with the sole purpose of taking forward the good work that my father had done during his lifetime as Chief Minister for six terms, as MLA for 10 terms and as a Union Minister,” said Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Vikramaditya Singh while addressing mediapersons here today.

He said, “A statue of Virbhadra Singh will be unveiled on his birth anniversary on June 23 at the Daulat Singh Park on The Ridge, next to the statue of the first Chief Minister, Dr YS Parmar. I am grateful to Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu for this.” He added, “We have decided not to take money from the government and the Trust will bear the entire cost of the installation of the statue.”

Virbhadra was the sitting MLA from Arki in Solan district when he passed away on July 8, 2021. Ever since his demise, his family, including minister son Vikramaditya and wife and former MP Pratibha Singh, had been demanding the earmarking of space on The Ridge for the installation of his statue on The Ridge. In fact, this was a major sore issue which Vikramaditya Singh had mentioned when he announced his resignation from the Sukhu Cabinet after the Rajya Sabha election in February, 2024.

Vikramaditya said that some things in life should be done by rising above political considerations. “I am committed towards my party, but this is a completely non-political endeavour that will bring together eminent people from various fields,” he added.

He said that eminent people from various spheres of life like medicine, education, technology and agriculture would be associated with the foundation. “There will be regular meetings of the foundation and we will chalk out the entire plan as to how to continue serving the needy and downtrodden,” he added.

Himachal Tribune