Thackeray memorial: Cabinet waives stamp duty, registration

The Maharashtra cabinet Thursday decided to waive the stamp duty and registration fees for the leave and license agreement for the construction of late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray's memorial in central Mumbai.

The state government has given the Mayor's bungalow at Shivaji Park on a 30-year lease for the proposed memorial.

At the cabinet meeting held on Thursday, the cabinet approved a proposal to waive the stamp duty and registration fees for leave and license agreement for the project.

The government and the local civic body have leased an area measuring 11,551 sq metres for one rupee per annum for the construction of the Thackeray memorial.

The Bal Thackeray Memorial Trust headed by Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray was constituted and a plot of land in Dadar, which currently hosts the mayor's bungalow, belonging to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) was given to the trust on lease for construction of a memorial.

A high-level committee was set up in 2014 for setting up of the memorial. It held various meetings and explored the possibility of setting up such a memorial at various places, including the premises in contention - the mayor's bungalow. The said property belongs to the BMC and this proposal was accepted by the government.