The News Minute | March 3, 2015 | 1:30 pm ISTOn 2 September 2009, a helicopter went missing in the Nallamala forest area. The next morning media reported that the helicopter wreckage had been found on top of Rudrakonda Hill, 74 km from Kurnool. The five people aboard were pronounced dead at the scene of the crash.One of the people on board was then AP chief minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy, an influential politician who had amassed a huge following over the years.After YSR’s death, his followers, led by his son YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had set up YSR's statutes on a large scale across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. In the latest development, the Roads and Buildings department of AP has come out with reports which state that footpaths and central dividers have been encroached. In majority of the cases no permission has been obtained from local civic authorities.Statues of late chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy have topped the list of illegal statues that are blocking the way on various roads in the state with Visakhapatnam district and Paderu alone consisting of around 50 illegal statues. As many as 47 of those are YSR’s. The R&B department has mentioned in the report that these statues are erected on government lands and they occupy the right of way.The Roads and Buildings department had earlier submitted a report to the government after carrying out a detailed survey on statutes.The party seems to have accepted that it acted in a very emotional manner, in a hurry to glorify YSR after his death by erecting so many illegal statues."The same rule that applies to everyone applies to us. If the R&B department finds a statue blocking the right of way, it will come down" Gattu Srikanth Reddy, a YSRCP spokesperson told The News Minute."Since after 1947, many statues have been built in the state that have not adhered to the norms. There will also be a lot of NTR statues and other leaders. There is only special emphasis on YSRCP because we erected more statues. We are willing to undergo the same treatment as long as other freedom fighters and personalities' statues that are illegal also come down." he adds.A government order in 2013 had stated that if statutes or monuments were unavoidable, they should be erected only on large traffic islands, public gardens, parks and premises of government buildings, town halls or places of public importance.TweetFollow @thenewsminute