How CM got sanction for offshore Shivaji memorial

Till Wednesday evening even state environment minister Sanjay Deotale was unaware that during her scheduled visit to Mumbai union minister of state independent charge for environment and forests Jayanthi Natarajan would meet chief minister Prithviraj Chavan to thrash out crucial pending issuesu00a0 Wednesday 1230 pm CM calls up union minister Jayanthi Natarajan seeking a meeting after being apprised of her prearranged Mumbai visit right 7 pm State environment minister Sanjay Deotale is told about the new itinerary cancels his trip to Nashik Consequently he had to cancel his scheduled tour to Nashik at the last moment and stay put in Mumbai to attend the parley The agenda of the meeting was drafted the same evening Yesterday 10 am Natarajan arrives in the city right 2 pm The union minister has an informal luncheon meeting with the CM at Hotel Trident Statue politics is not new to the country and from time to time leaders have fallen back on this tried and tested manoeuvre to entice voters With prevailing ambiguity over the timing of the Lok Sabha polls officially scheduled for 2014 the Congressled Democratic Front government in the state can allow itself a pat on the back after securing an inprinciple nod from the centre to the proposed 312ft Chhatrapati Shivaji statue and memorial in the Arabian Sea off Mumbairsquos coast The approval came in the conference between Chavan and Natarajan planned at the eleventh hour 3 pm This was followed by a meeting with state govt officials at Sahyadri state guesthouse right 330 pm During this conference Natarajan gave an inprinciple approval to the Shivaji statue The inprinciple endorsement for the memorial comes as a shot in the arm for the ruling Congress as it has become a contentious issue in the last few months The memorial is a decadeold promise of the Democratic Front made during state assembly elections The delay in its fulfilment was enough ammunition for opposition parties as well as collation partner NCP whose MLC Vinayak Mete moved a breach of privilege motion against the CM 312 ft Height of the proposed statue in the Arabian Sea Sources say as soon as the CMrsquos office came to know of Natarajanrsquos Mumbai tour a formal request for the meeting was sent A word by CM to the MoS environment and forests finally brought in her consent Natarajan had a prearranged meeting with oil companies to review response and preparedness for spills at Hotel Trident A luncheon meeting between the CM and Natarajan thereafter is believed to have paved way for the goahead sources in the know of the developments claimed The meeting with the state government happened at Sahyadri state guesthouse followed by a joint press conference by the CM and the MoS where the announcement on the memorial was made ldquoWe have studied the case in detail and are satisfied No commercial activity will be allowedrdquo Natarajan said The CM said as many as 40 clearances of different kinds were required for the construction of the memorial Meanwhile the state has submitted a concept for the memorial to Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority MCZMA which has been forwarded to the ministry of environment and forests for further approvals The state is expected to submit study reports of coastal modelling and geotechnical investigation with respect to structural stability Besides analysis on socioeconomic impacts on local fishermen marine biodiversity surveys mapping of the area baseline assessment of the study area disaster management plan etc would also be tendered Another subject that topped the meetingrsquos agenda was the memorial of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar at Indu Mill land in Dadar Proposals on Navi Mumbai International Airport car shed for the metro rail project at Charkop and coastal road ndash the pet project of the CM ndash were also discussed u00a0 Special case The site a rock with an area of 1596 hectare 12 km away from the Raj Bhavan at Walkeshwar was a safe place said Natarajan Even during high tide the rock stands 3 to 4 metres above sea level said the minister The project that falls in Coastal Regulation Zone IV where no construction is allowed was approved in principle as a special case