Chhatrapati Shivaji memorial in Pune, a non-starter?

Neither state government nor PMC seem interested to set the ball rolling on this project which has been in pipeline for a decade

A year after chief minister Devendra Fadnavis announced the Shivshrushti (Chhatrapati Shivaji memorial) project, which was to be built on a 50 acre bio diversity park (BDP) land in Chandani chowk, there is no progress in the project, and the civic administration too has no intention of pushing the project forward.

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on February 7,2018, decided that the memorial will be built at the Bio Diversity park (BDP) coming up at Chandani chowk. Here, a view of the BDP at Chandani chowk is seen. (HT PHOTO)

The Shivshrushti (Chhatrapati Shivaji memorial) project has been a topic of discussion for the last decade. However, there is no movement within the PMC regarding the project. The State government too has not started the work of acquiring the land for the much hyped project.

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) official accepted that there has been no discussion on this project and the PMC is not taking any steps to acquire the required land for the memorial. A PMC official on the condition of anonymity stated the civic administration faced a lot of trouble for acquiring the land for the multi-layer flyover at Chandani chowk. The State government helped the PMC for acquiring the land for the Chandani chowk flyover and the land acquisition cost for it is ₹200 crore. However, for the Shivshrushti (Chhatrapati Shivaji memorial) project the land acquisition cost is huge.

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on February,7, 2018 ended a long-standing controversy with regards to erecting the Shivshrushti (Chhatrapati Shivaji memorial) project in the city. Fadnavis had decided that the memorial will be built at the Bio Diversity park coming up at Chandani chowk instead of the original planned site at the Kothrud garbage depot.