Ambedkar memorial in Mumbai will be ready by 2020: CM

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today assured the Legislative Council that Dr B R Ambedkar's memorial at Indu Mills Compound in Mumbai will be completed within two years.

The Union government has handed over the entire land needed for the memorial to the state and the construction has started, he said.

"We are making efforts to complete the project by 2020," he said.

The chief minister was replying to a calling attention motion on the issue, moved by MLCs Prakash Gajbhiye, Sanjay Dutt, Sharad Ranpise, Bhai Jagtap, Leader of Opposition Dhananjay Munde and others.

Gajbhiye (NCP) alleged that there was a delay in the construction and even the transfer of the entire 12.5 acres of land at Indu Mills was not complete.

The building plan has not been sanctioned and several approvals for the project are yet to come, he claimed.

Fadnavis stated that the entire land -- which was in the possession of National Textile Corporation Ltd -- was transfered to the state government on March 25, 2017.

Tender process was over and construction has started, he said.

"There is no shortage of funds. The project is not delayed at all. (Mumbai planning body) MMRDA has sanctioned Rs 150 crore and made provisions in its budget to release more funds as per the need," the chief minister said.

The draft plan of the memorial was selected by organising a competition, he said.

Social Justice Minister Chandrakant Badole met all prominent leaders who had agitated for the memorial, including (Union minister) Ramdas Athawale, Prakash Ambedkar, Anandraj Ambedkar, Jogendra Kawade, Sulekha Kumbhare and others and obtained their nod for the plan, Fadnavis said.

"You are making political allegations against me, what if I ask what you did in the last 15 years (when Congress-NCP combine was in power), he asked opposition legislators.

"I revere Dr Ambedkar as much as you do, and we should all work together for this project," the chief minister said.

Prime minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone of the memorial in October 2015.