Kalam memorial: A fitting tribute to the Peoples' President

The permanent memory of the great leader will now welcome the visitors to the temple town of Rameshwaram.

Dr APJ Abdul Kalam was a person genuinely loved and admired across India. He is fondly remembered as a scientist, a teacher and for his contributions towards education.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday inaugurated the memorial for Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, built at the burial site of the former President at Pei Karumbu near Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu.

Built by the Defence Research and Development Organisation as a tribute to Kalam, the memorial will reflect India's diversity and various cultures and will pay homage to Kalam's life, displaying replicas of rockets and missiles that the late ace scientist worked on. "The elevation in the front resembles the India Gate

DRDO initiative

The DRDO had taken up the initiative of constructing the memorial as a tribute to India's missile man. They have invested around Rs 120 crore for the construction of the memorial in a record 9-month period.

The entrance of the memorial depicts the India Gate and has a Chettinad door integrated into the structure, while the main dome of the building is a replica of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Every stone placed in the memorial represents Kalam's dream of United India.

Bronze Life-size statue of Kalam

The structure is built in a 2.11 acre land and the bronze life size statue of Abdul Kalam, which was inaugurated in 2016, has been shifted and installed behind the memorial.

There are display halls at the four corners of the memorial hall, depicting Kalam's stay in Rashtrapati Bhavan, his address in the UN Assembly, his association with ISRO and DRDO and his last lecture at the Indian Institute of Management, Shillong, where he collapsed and died.

More than 300 workers sweat it out round the clock giving finishing touches to the memorial. There were also four courtyards with vegetations providing greenery to the structure. If the 'Shekhawati paintings' added grandeur to the double height connecting corridors, the four pergola sculpture gardens and architectural stone pillars added beauty.

Agni to fire up Dr Kalam's memorial

At the outer arena of the memorial stood a majestic replica of Kalam's Agni, the intercontinental range ballistic missile. India's most powerful long range missile, Agni, which has remained inaccessible to the common man was among the favourite projects of late President Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

Second phase

The second phase of the memorial will comprise a knowledge centre- a library, planetarium and auditorium. Its completion will take at least a year.

OneIndia News