CHENNAI: Statues of erstwhile stalwarts at the Marina Beach in Chennai were recently sprayed with gold paint. They were painted in black earlier.

Due to a rise in bird droppings on the statues, they were painted golden at a cost of Rs 20.75 lakh, as reported by Thanthi TV.

The beach has statues of poets Bharathiyar, Bharathidasan, and Thiruvalluvar, Tamil scholar G U Pope, as well as freedom fighters like Mahatma Gandhi and Subhash Chandra Bose, and Kannagi, a key figure of Tamil lore, apart from the Labour statue.