The Maharashtra government on Thursday handed over the ‘Letter of Acceptance’ to engineering major Larsen and Toubro (L&T) to build the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Memorial in the Arabian Sea.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone of the memorial in December 2016. “Maharashtra and our nation have waited for 15 long years for this monument of pride for every Indian. It is our government which took every permission for this grand memorial in record time and gave directions to start the actual work before monsoon,” said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
The 210-metre-tall statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji will be constructed on a 16-hectare islet, which is 3.6 km away from Girgaum chowpatty in south Mumbai, at a cost of around ₹3,600 crore. The BJP made the statue one of the rallying points during its campaign in the 2014 Assembly polls.
The demand to build a grand memorial of the Maratha king had drawn attention from political quarters across the State. The BJP-Shiv Sena government has blamed the previous Congress-NCP government for the delay in initiating the work. Mr. Fadnavis said that the company must begin its work at the fastest speed possible. He said, “This statue will be the tallest in the world. The firm now has the responsibility to show to the world that India can ensure highest quality work.”
