Trust to get land possession today

Mumbai: The land earmarked in Mumbai for the memorial of Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray will be transferred by the city civic body to the trust set up to construct the structure at an event on Wednesday.

The Shiv Sena is organising the event on Wednesday, on the occ-asion of Bal Thacke-ray’s birth anniversary, at the city mayor’s bungalow, which is going to be converted into a museum as part of the memorial structure. The event is expected to be attended by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray.

A source said that the Sena wants to invite Prime Minister Nare-ndra Modi for the groundbreaking ceremony of memorial, wh-ich is likely to be held by this month-end.

Architect Shashi Prabhu, who is also a member of the trust, said, “The trustees, including Uddhav Thackeray would visit the plot on Wednesday and accept the possession of the land earmarked for the memorial. This would pave way for the construction of the memorial.”

He also welcomed the state cabinet’s decision to approve Rs 100 crore for the same and said this will help in completing the project without any hassles. He added, the civil work for the memorial’s construction is likely to start next month.

The land selected for the proposed memorial presently houses the bungalow of Mumbai mayor, which is a heritage site built in 1928 in an area spread over four acres. It is located at Shivaji Park in Dadar area of central Mumbai.

The prime sea-facing property, measuring around 11,500 square meters, was handed over to the ‘Balasaheb Thackeray Rashtriya Smarak Nyas’ (trust) last year.