Mumbai: With elections around the corner, the Maharashtra government has revived its project to build an equestrian statue of Shivaji in the Arabian Sea, off Marine Drive in Mumbai — on a much grander scale.
A high-powered committee headed by the city's guardian minister and NCP leader Jayant Patil has shelved the earlier plans approved by former chief minister Ashok Chavan and is set to start afresh, based on a new concept design submitted by the JJ School of Architecture.
While the earlier design proposed a modest height of 321 ft (98 metres), the new plans could make the Shivaji statue the tallest in the world at 190 metres, taller than even the proposed Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel statue (182 metres) in Gujarat, which was being touted as the world's tallest.
“Our criterion is not to create the tallest statue but one that is prominently visible from the Queen's Necklace,” said Patil. He said IIT-Bombay would carry out tests to ascertain the load-bearing capacity of the base this week. “Only after that will we take a decision on the final height of the statue,” he said.
