High tide fears delay bhoomi pujan for mid-sea Shivaji memorial

A senior official said, “Ferrying dignitaries, other invitees and performing bhoomi pujan will be difficult on days when the tidal currents are high. The bedrock is submerged in water during high tides.”

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To build political capital with the monument, the Fadnavis government has plans to invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the launch. Official sources also said that the government was now trying to fix a date in the third week of May.

Proposed to come up on a 16-hectare islet off the sea coast, the memorial is touted to be the world’s tallest monument at 182 meters.

The rock islet is located 3.6 km from the coastline at Girgaum Chowpatty and 2.6 km from Nariman Point.

Fadnavis had initially planned to perform the bhoomi pujan on February 19 this year, which also mark the warrior king’s birth anniversary. But these plans were deferred as the final clearance from the Union Environment Ministry, which has made a special exception for the project, was yet to arrive. That clearance is now in place.

Last week, the state government invited flak from the opposition for postponing plans to perform a similar bhoomi pujan for the Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar memorial on the Indu mill land in Mumbai’s Prabhadevi.