Opposition Slams ‘Missed Deadlines’ For Ambedkar Memorial Project
Criticising the BJP-led Mahayuti government over delays, Raut said that if the government could not construct memorials for Ambedkar and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, it had no right to invoke their names.
Mumbai: Opposition parties on Tuesday questioned the delay in completing the Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar memorial at Indu Mill, even as the state government asserted that 95 per cent of the work has been completed. Mumbai Congress chief and Lok Sabha MP Varsha Gaikwad said there had been no visible progress and claimed that the government’s assurance of completing the project by 2026 had failed. Shiv Sena (UBT) chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis should address the public on the status of both the Ambedkar memorial and the proposed memorial of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in the Arabian Sea.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Governor Jishnu Dev Varma, Chief Minister Fadnavis, and Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Sunetra Pawar paid tribute to B.R. Ambedkar at Chaityabhoomi in Dadar on his 135th birth anniversary.
Criticising the BJP-led Mahayuti government over delays, Raut said that if the government could not construct memorials for Ambedkar and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, it had no right to invoke their names. He alleged that the state continues to offer only tentative timelines without concrete progress and demanded that the Chief Minister hold a press conference to announce a definitive completion schedule.
Gaikwad, who visited Chaityabhoomi to pay tribute, alleged that funds from the social justice department were being used for the project and questioned whether Ambedkar “belonged to one community”. She said the memorial should have been completed by now, allowing Ambedkar Jayanti celebrations to be held at the site. “This government has shown no political will. At times it cites lack of funds, at others different excuses; now it speaks of a shortage of gas cylinders. The truth is the government is not committed to honouring Babasaheb’s legacy,” she said.
Conceived over a decade ago, the memorial will feature a 350-foot statue of Ambedkar atop a 100-foot pedestal, making it the world’s second tallest statue after the Statue of Unity. Despite an initial three-year deadline following the 2015 bhoomipujan by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the project has repeatedly missed timelines. It was originally slated for completion in 2018 and later revised to 2020. The deadline was subsequently pushed to early 2024 during a 2022 site visit by then Chief Minister Shinde, and later to November 2026 by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), which is executing the project.
Project progress was first affected by the Covid-19 pandemic during the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government.
Deputy Chief Minister Shinde reiterated that 95 per cent of the work has been completed and said there would be no hurdles going forward. “The world will be surprised to see the Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar memorial at Indu Mill,” he said.
