The Centre, on Wednesday, decided to transfer 12 acres of Indu Mills in south central Mumbai to the Maharashtra Government for constructing a national memorial for B.R. Ambedkar.
The land for the memorial would be carved out of the sprawling complex of the Indu mill, which is now defunct. The mill, which is very close to Shivaji Park, is a property of the National Textile Corporation. Over a decade, a number of political parties have made a demand for the memorial.
The parties had set December 6, Ambedkar’s death anniversary, as the deadline for the State Government to decide on the issue, failing which they threatened to forcibly occupy the mill premises.
Addressing a press conference, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said that the decision is historic, since it has been taken on the eve of the death anniversary.
The memorial would be of a global standard and design ideas would be invited from architects all over the world, he said.
The State Government would be providing all the funds for the memorial, he said.
However, when questioned by the media about the quantum of funds required for the memorial, Chavan was noncommittal.
He merely added that it was not a time for dwelling on such questions.
“The process of acquiring land was a very tedious one and slow. We had to change a number of laws for acquiring it. If required, we will get a law passed in the Legislature for the memorial,” he said.
Chavan added that an independent authority would be created for building and management of the memorial.