Bhoomipujan for Bal Thackeray memorial in Mumbai to be held on January 23

Uddhav Thackeray-led trust will take possession of the mayor’s bungalow at Shivaji Park this week and invite bids soon

The Shiv Sena is all geared up to perform the bhoomipujan of the Bal Thackeray memorial at the mayor’s bungalow in Shivaji Park, Dadar, on the Sena founder’s birth anniversary on January 23. The Balasaheb Thackeray Memorial Public Trust headed by Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray will take possession of the 11,551-sqm plot at Shivaji Park in Dadar this week.

People pay tribute to Bal Thackeray at his makeshift memorial at Shivaji Park on January 23, 2018. (HT file photo)

The trust will soon invite bids to design the memorial for the late Sena supremo. “As the mayor is moving out, all trustees and Uddhavji [Thackeray] will visit the plot on January 23 and officially take possession. It won’t be a bhoomipujan in the usual way,” said Shashi Prabhu, noted architect and a member of the memorial’s trust.

The Sena-led Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation handed over the bungalow to the Trust in November and subsequently, they have inked an agreement, which will allow them to start work. The bungalow is a Grade II-B heritage structure, which means major alterations cannot be made to it.

The party wants the actual work on the memorial to begin ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. The Sena has been facing criticism from Opposition for the delay in building the memorial, six years after the death of the party’s founder.

“We will soon start the bidding process. Designs will be invited from architects, of which one will be selected by the authority and the trust,” he said. The memorial could be made underground to not disturb the look of the plot.

Senior Sena functionaries said Uddhav Thackeray does not wish to make major alterations to the place where the bungalow stands today. “He was clear that trees should not be cut, and did not want to disturb the heritage structure in any way,” said a party functionary, requesting anonymity.