Within a week after Naxals destroyed a 3-feet-tall statue of Lord Ganesha in Chhattisgarh, the idol was restored to its original place by authorities.
The Chhattisgarh Archaeological Department of the state reportedly worked for four days on restoring the broken idol on top of the Beladila hill in Naxal-infested Bastar district of the state.
The idol was reported missing on January 26 and found broken at the base pf the hill.
On January 26, the ancient idol was found missing from its place by locals. Paramilitary forces, who are stationed in the area, found it broken at the base of the hill.
Pictures of the missing idol and the empty platform had gone viral on social media.
Following media reports, the District Administration took quick action and helped the Archaeology Department in restoring the idol from the pieces and place it on a newly built platform atop the 13,000 feet hill.
Chhattisgarh: 6-foot Ganesha idol located on a hill in Dantewada’s Dholkal, found damaged last week, has been restored to its original place pic.twitter.com/JeeCgQDlkE
— ANI (@ANI_news) February 2, 2017
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Authorities said that the Naxals destroyed the idol. They reasoned that the idol, which is over 1000 years old, would have attracted a lot of tourists and led to the development of the region.
A picture of the idol of Lord Ganesha on the Beladila hill in Bastar before it was destroyed.
The locals had then claimed that there was an attempt to steal the idol and that they had a chopper hovering in the area a few days before the idol was reported missing.
The idol was built during the Nagvanshi rule between 9th and 10th century AD.
Because of the treacherous terrain, the remote location and Naxal threat, no one knew of the idol before 2012 when a local journalist chanced upon it.
