Nod to raise height of Dr Ambedkar statue by 100ft

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra cabinet on Wednesday approved a proposal to raise the height of the proposed statue of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, which is part of a memorial being built at the 12-acre Indu Mills compound in Dadar. The height is now being raised from 250ft to 350ft, while the pedestal remains 100ft tall. The total height will now be 450ft.

The cost of the project has since gone up to ₹1,069.95 crore from the earlier estimation of ₹763 crore. The project cost has also escalated on account of delays in implementation and other alternations in the original plan, senior officials said.

Following the state cabinet meeting, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, who visited the memorial site on January 4 to take stock of the project, said that during his visit, it came to light that numerous permissions were still pending.

The groundbreaking for the project was done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in October 2015, but five years later, the work is still to pick up the pace.

“During the visit, I came to know that permissions were pending. Some of it required going back to the cabinet for approval. The revised estimate of ₹1,069.95 crore has been cleared by the cabinet. It was also decided that all pending permissions will be given in eight days, to speed up the project,” Pawar said on Wednesday. He added that the state government has already secured permission from the civil aviation minister after the height revision.

The 350-foot statue will be made of bronze. The Ambedkar memorial, which is being constructed on 12 acres of land, includes a library; replica of the historic Chavdar pond in Raigad; numerous viewing points, and a parking lot. The memorial will be a stone’s throw away from Chaityabhoomi, where Ambedkar’s ashes were interred.

Pawar, who holds charge of the finance department, said that the government intends to complete the project in two years. “There will be no dearth of funds for the memorial, which we want to be of world-class level,” he said. The project is now expected to be completed by April 2022.