Sivaji Ganesan memorial work will take 2 years: TN govt to HC

Chennai, Sept 16: Tamil Nadu government today told the Madras High Court that it would take two years to build the proposed memorial for legendary Tamil actor Sivaji Ganesan and till then his statue would remain at its exisiting location on the beach road here.

The work on the memorial, announced by the state government recently, would commence next month and completed in October, 2017.

The statue would be shifted to the memorial thereafter, Advocate General A L Somayaji submitted before a division bench of Justices Satish K Agnihotri and K K Sasidharan.

The submission was made during the hearing of a contempt petition related to the shifting the statue from a busy road junction near Marina Beach on the ground that it posed traffic hazard to road-users.

The city police admitted that the statue was indeed a hazard for vehicles. As there was delay in shifting the statue even after the high court asked the government to take a decision on the matter last year, the contempt petition was filed.

Earlier this month, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had announced in the state assembly that the government would construct the memorial on the banks of Adyar river.

PTI