Shivaji memorial: Govt now plans shorter statue, longer sword

The Maharashtra government has changed the height specifications of the proposed Chhatrapati Shivaji Memorial off the Arabian Sea, in a bid to reduce the cost of the project, reply to an RTI query has revealed.

In the new design, the government has reduced the height of the warrior king's statue by 7.5 metres, although the sword he wields will be taller than in the original design.

However, these changes will not alter the total height of the statue, which would be 121.2 metres. The height of the entire structure, including the pedestal, would be 212 metres, the government said in its reply.

"The height of Chhatrapati Shivaji's statue has now been reduced to 75.7 metres from the earlier 83.2 metres," it said.

But in order to maintain the statue's overall height of 121.2 metres, the length of the sword has been raised from 38 metres to 45.5 metres, the government said.

"The height of the pedestal has been reduced to 87.4 metres from the earlier 96.2 metres. This change in the pedestal's height will save Rs 338.94 crore," it added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone of the project in December 2016.

The contract for the project was awarded to Larsen & Toubro for Rs 2,500 crore in March this year. The state government had pegged the overall project cost (phase I and II) at Rs 3,600 crore.