A file photo of former Rajya Sabha member Sambhaji Raje Chhatrapati.
Credit: PTI File Photo
Mumbai: As he prepares for the forthcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections, Sambhaji Raje has put the BJP on the spot by asking why things have not moved ahead for erecting the grand statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj even after eight years of the jal-poojan ceremony by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“There is a government (of the BJP) in the Centre and Maharashtra but still it has not happened,” Sambhaji Raje said at the Gateway of India on Sunday.
Sambhaji Raje arrived in Mumbai with thousands of his supporters.
After talks with government officials and police, Raje, along with 50 of his supporters and Shiv-premis, were allowed to visit the site.
The Shiv Smarak project has seen several delays.
A former President-nominated Rajya Sabha member, Sambhaji Raje, who hails from the royal family of Kolhapur, is a descendent of Chhatrapati Shivaji, the legendary Maratha warrior and Chhatrapati Rajarshi Shahu, the iconic social reformer.
Sambhaji Raje's father Shahu Chhatrapati is a Congress MP from the Lok Sabha seat of Kolhapur and a respected figure in the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (I.N.D.I.A.) bloc.
Two years ago, Sambhaji Raje floated Swarajya Sangathan, a social outfit and has now come out with Maharashtra Swarajya Paksha, which is registered as a political party with the “pen nib with seven rays” election symbol ahead of Vidhan Sabha polls.
Sambhaji Raje said that on 24 December, 2016, Modi performed the jal-poojan but it has not seen the light of the day.
The proposed project is on a rocky outcrop, and is proposed to raise the ground level of the rocky outcrop to 8 m above mean sea level.
The statue would be over one kilometre into the Arabian Sea, overlooking the Marine Drive aka Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Marg or Queen’s Necklace, with the historic Malabar Hills on one side and the imposing Nariman Point on the other. The statue, along with the pedestal and foundation at 309 feet, would be higher than the Statue of Liberty – and can be a major tourist attraction in the commercial capital.
The project was complex as permissions and NOCs from over a dozen ministries, departments, and organisations were secured – including Indian Navy, Mumbai Port Trust, Maharashtra Maritime Board, BHNS India, Fisheries department, Indian Coast Guard, Mumbai Police Commissioner, Forests and Environment department, NSG, BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation, BEST, Airport Authority of India among others.
The cost of project would be to the tune of Rs. 3,600 crore and Rs. 2,300 crores would be spent in the first phase.
Work on the memorial will be done in two phases. The memorial will have a museum, exhibition gallery, amphitheater, helipad, and hospital. The memorial will showcase replicas of Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj's forts.