Chhatrapati Shivaji memorial at sea rocks legislature

The issue of securing environmental clearance from the centre for the ambitious memorial for Chhatrapati Shivaji in the Arabian Sea rocked the Maharashtra legislative assembly on its first day here Thursday.

The Opposition parties attacked the government for failing to get the centre’s permission to install the 309-feet tall statue, planned on the lines of the Statue of Liberty outside New York.

“The government was not sincere in getting the required sanction for the statue,” Bharatiya Janata Party’s opposition leader Eknath Khadse said.

Shiv Sena leader Subhash Desai termed the alleged denial of permission to the project as “an insult” to the people of Maharashtra.

Peasants & Workers Party leader Ganpatrao Deshmukh demanded that Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan should make a statement in the house detailing the measures taken till date to get the necessary environmental clearances for the project.

Not to be left behind the MNS member Bala Nandgaonkar said that New Delhi “has always ill-treated Maharashtra” and this is yet another example.

Intervening in the debate, Chief Minister Chavan clarified that the Ministry of Environment & Forests has not yet refused permission for the project.