Mumbai: Bhoomi Pujan of Shivaji Memorial to take place after monsoon

Mumbai: The 'Bhoomi Pujan' ceremony of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Statue and memorial erected in the Arabian Sea will take place after monsoon, a senior official said.

The 'Bhoomi pujan' function will take place after monsoon since the sea is rough during monsoon, an official of General Administration department (GAD) said.

Three consortiums -- Stup fairwood DA, Norr and Pentacle Consultants and Egis India Consulting Engineers Private Ltd -- have been found technically and financially qualified to bid as project management consultants for the Rs 1,900 crore project.

The job profile will to be prepare the master plan and structural design of the project. The final decision will be taken in a fortnight. The ground breaking ceremony which has received all the required
clearances will take place after monsoon, the official said.

Union Ministry of Environment and Forests in December last year had given clearance for the installation of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Memorial Statue in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Mumbai.

The memorial will come up on a 16 hectare rocky outcrop, 1.5 kms from the Raj Bhavan off Marine Drive.

Planned on the lines of the Statue of Liberty in New York and the Swami Vivekananda Rock Memorial in Kanyakumari, the Chhatrapati Shivaji memorial will be 190 feet tall.

The statue will be erected atop three level pedestal, which will also house a museum, an art gallery and a recreation centre.

The memorial is expected to cost the exchequer Rs 1,900 crore. The Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority had recommended to MoEF to consider a special dispensation under the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification-2011 for the "proposal to install Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's statue and memorial in the Arabian sea as a permissible activity".

Since the activity involves reclamation and construction, environmental clearance from the Centre was necessary to initiate the project.