Ex-PM's statue won't be built in south Mumbai: Deepak Kesarkar

Mumbai: Late BJP leader and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s statue will not be built in south Mumbai due to planned projects and land scarcity, said minister of state Deepak Kesarkar in the upper house.

Meanwhile, the Balasaheb Thackeray memorial and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue, which were announced long ago, are stuck in coastal regulation zone (CRZ) permissions.

During the discussion on the budget, Leader of Opposition of the Legislative Council Dhananjay Munde raised the issue of various statues to be built in the state. In reply, Mr Kesarkar announced the status of the six statues to be built in the state.

Mr Kesarkar said that the state government tried to find a land parcel in south Mumbai for Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s statue. “However, due to various projects like the metro (underground and elevated) and bullet train that are already planned and land scarcity in the city, the state government was unable to find any place in SoBo and is now searching for land in the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC),” he said.

The Balasaheb Thackeray memorial will be built near the mayor’s bungalow and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue will be built in the Arabian Sea. Both these statues are stuck in coastal regulation zone permissions.

Mr Munde alleged that the state government had reduced the height of the Shivaji Maharaj statue. However, Mr Kesarkar refuted the allegation saying, “The statue of Shivaji Maharaj will be the tallest and the high power committee has given its nod to increasing the height of the statue.”

Mr Kesarkar said that the Gopinath Munde statue to be erected in Aurangabad would be funded by City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO).