An artist's impression of the Shivaji statue that will be installed at a museum near the Mumbai airport Photo courtesy: Mid-Day
Plans for a giant statue of warrior king Shivaji off the Mumbai coast - a project loaded with political implications in Maharashtra - have been cleared by the union environment ministry.
The statue, seen as a symbol of Maratha pride, was a poll promise made by almost every political party in Maharashtra.
The previous Congress-led government in the state had announced the Shivaji statue in 2004 and later sanctioned Rs 100 crore for it.
The BJP, which took power in Maharashtra after winning the October state election, has now secured green clearance from its government at the Centre.
Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said he had discussed the project with new Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and the "matter had been sorted out."
Former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan had claimed that the statue would be the world's tallest, twice the size of the Sardar Patel statue championed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Gujarat.
It will come up on a 16-hectare bedrock in the Arabian Sea. The Navy had opposed the project citing restrictions on construction in the Coastal Regulatory Zone.
Planned on the lines of the Statue of Liberty in New York and the Swami Vivekananda Rock Memorial in Kanyakumari, the Shivaji statue will be located off the Marine Drive.
The statue was projected as the Congress' counter to the Sardar Patel statue that the party alleges is a part of PM Modi's attempts to appropriate the legacy of icons linked to the Congress.
The Sardar Patel statue, named Statue of Unity, will be 182 m high - double the height of the Statue of Liberty - and is being built on a river island in Narmada.