Govt to construct Shivaji statue

Mumbai, July 4 : The Maharashtra government will construct a magnificient statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj facing the Arabian Sea, within six months, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh told the Legislative Assembly today.

The Chief Minister's announcement came, when he intervened in the question hour to a query by BJP member Sudhir Mungantiwar. Mr Deshmukh said everybody in the state had enormous respect for the legendary Maratha king and the statue would be constructed within six months, after the site was identified.

Earlier, Minister of State for General Administration (GAD) Rajesh Tope told the house that Mr Deshmukh and Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil had inspected some sites and a decision would be taken soon.

However, the members, especially from the opposition benches, made a forceful demand that the government state the exact time frame.

After the question hour, Sardar Tara Singh (BJP) made a reference to the heavy rains in Mumbai and highlighted the situation in his constituency Mulund, situated in the central suburbs. Apart from this reference, there was no mention of the situation arising out of rains in the city and elsewhere in the state.

Almost all MLAs were present in Vidhan Bhavan, while about 70 per cent of the staff were there. A majority of journalists covering the assembly could not make it, because all of them stay in the central and western suburbs and outskirts of the city like Thane and Navi Mumbai, while rail services on the Western, Central and Harbour lines as well as vehicular traffic on the Western and Eastern express highways was severely affected due to waterlogging and rain water flooding railway tracks.

UNI