Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will lay the foundation stone for the 350 ft statue of late Babasaheb Ambedkar raised as part of the grand memorial for the late architect of Indian Constitution being developed at the Indu Mills compound at Dadar in north-central Mumbai, on Friday.
Five years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid foundation stone of late Ambedkar’s grand memorial, Uddhav will kick-start the work on building of a statue of the iconic Dalit leader.
Friday’s will be the biggest state government programme to be held during the lockdown period. Apart from Uddhav and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, many of the ministers in his Cabinet will attend the programme which will be as per various social distancing norms.
The work on the construction of the Ambedkar had been hanging fire for the first four years. To be developed by the state-run Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), the memorial will cost Rs 1,089 crore as per the revised estimates.
On its part, the MMRDA has already started the construction.
Excavation and piling work has been completed, while the work on the auditorium basement comprising two-floors below its framework has been completed.
The height of Dr Ambedkar’s statue, which was earlier proposed to be of the height of 250 feet, will now be 350 feet. The statue will be erected on a pedestal of the height of 100 feet. In essence, the collective height of the bronze statue will be 450 feet.
There will be elements of the Buddhist architecture in the Ambedkar memorial, which is coming up on a 12 acre plot of land.
While 68 per cent of the land will be open lawn, there will be a training centre that can accommodate 400 people, a state-art auditorium and a museum-cum-exhibition hall at the memorial.
Trees will be planted on ‘parikrama’ as a median to segregate the inward and outward visitor movement. It will also provide shade to the visitors.
In addition, the viewing gallery width will have a dedicated upward and downward movement by providing railing in between. Also, customised LED lights will be installed.
It may be recalled that October 11, 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the grand memorial of Babasaheb Ambedkar at the Indu Mills compound.
Six days earlier – i.e., on April 5, 2015, the 12 acre plot of land -- owned by the state-run National Textile Corporation (NTC) – had been transferred to the Maharashtra government, through a tripartite agreement signed among Union textile minister, government of Maharashtra and National Textile Corporation in Delhi in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Later on March 25, 2017, the Centre handed over the documents transferring 12 acres of land located in the defunct Indu Mill compound to the Maharashtra government, thus paving way for the start of construction of the memorial.
