Groundbreaking ceremony of Dr BR Ambedkar Memorial at Dadar cancelled

The ground breaking ceremony of the much talked about 350 ft statue of late Babasaheb Ambedkar raised as part of the grand memorial at Indu Mills compound at Dadar in north-central Mumbai has finally been canceled. 

Many were upset over not being invited to the event. The controversy erupted when the leaders of the Ambedkar movement were not invited to the event. The event was to be held at Indu Mill at 3 pm today. Republican Sena President Anandraj Y. Ambedkar, the youngest grandson of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar had expressed his displeasure over the non-invitation. 

After that, MMRDA send out an invitation to Anandraj Ambedkar at 10 am today. 

Only sixteen people were invited for the groundbreaking ceremony, which angered the Ambedkar activists as no one from Babasaheb Ambedkar's family was invited. Even the Leaders of the Opposition in the state were not invited to the event. Prakash Ambedkar had said that it was up to the government to decide who to call. 

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray was supposed to lay the foundation stone for the 350 ft statue of late Babasaheb Ambedkar raised as part of the grand memorial for the late architect of Indian Constitution being developed at the Indu Mills compound at Dadar on Friday. However, due to the increasing prevalence of corona, only 16 people were invited to the event.

Apart from the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister, Social Justice Minister Dhananjay Munde, Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, Balasaheb Thorat, Varsha Gaikwad, Environment Minister Aditya Thackeray, Mumbai Guardian Minister Aslam Sheikh, Mayor, local MLAs, corporators and officials were also invited for the event.

To be developed by the state-run Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), the memorial will cost Rs 1,089 crore as per the revised estimates. On its part, the MMRDA has already started the construction.

The height of Dr Ambedkar’s statue, which was earlier proposed to be of the height of 250 feet, will now be 350 feet.  The statue will be erected on a pedestal of the height of 100 feet. In essence, the collective height of the bronze statue will be 450 feet.