Maha politicians recommend Bharat Ratna & FSI for Sachin

Mumbai, Apr 5: Congratulating the Indian cricket team for winning the

, Maharashtra Assembly today (Apr 5) recommended to the Centre that batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar be conferred ''Bharat Ratna'', the country's highest civilian award.

The motion congratulating the team and recommending Bharat Ratna for Tendulkar was moved by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and supported by all parties.

"We recommend that Tendulkar be conferred with the Bharat Ratna for his contribution to sports," Chavan said before the house adopted the resolution unanimously.

Noting that after 28 years, the dreams of 121 crore Indians has come true. Chavan announced that the state government will honour players from Maharashtra Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan with a cash prize of Rs one crore and a citation.

Similarly, two members of the team's support staff Mayank Parekh (logistics manager) and Ramesh Mane (masseur) will be honoured with Rs 50 lakh each.

He also congratulated the police and traffic department for ensuring an incident free World Cup final in Mumbai last Saturday.

Leader of Opposition Eknath Khadse said Sachin was "God" of Cricket.

"This achievement has not come easy for him and it has required 21 years of hard work and unblemished career. Sachin is a complete team man despite frequent criticism that he plays for his individual records," he said.

Shiv Sena leader Subhash Desai demanded that Sachin be granted additional Floor Space Index (FSI) for construction of gymnasium in his under construction bungalow at Bandra.

"He is a sportsman and wants a gym constructed in his own home. He has not asked FSI for a disco or club. His request should be granted and if necessary rules should be amended," he added.

What is FSI?

FSI stands for Floor Space Index. It is the same as Floor Area Ratio (FAR) of buildings. This is the ratio between the built up area allowed and plot area available. Like if FSI is 1 then on a plot of 100 sqmts, one can build 100 sqmts of built up area and with the setbacks and openspaces, the building can be higher than one floor. Simply it means that higher the FSI, higher built up area is possible. Normally in cities FSI will be 1:1.5.

PTI