Mumbai: The improvements committee in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has approved a proposal for giving another plot adjacent to the Mayor bungalow for Bal Thackeray's memorial.
The site for the memorial of Bal Thackeray — Mayor's former residence near Dadar's Shivaji Park — has got an additional space of about 362sqm from the plot of Kerala Mahila Samaj that is located next to the Mayor's former bungalow.
Earlier, BMC had asked the G North ward to cancel the lease of the plot of Kerala Mahila Samaj given in 1943-45. The samaj had approached the Bombay High Court. Eventually, both the parties settled out-of-court by giving out 362.04 square metres.
The samaj had constructed a 81.16 square metres building in 1962 on the entire plot of 118 square metres, which BMC decided to cancel the lease. But later BMC allowed 81.16 square metres and took the rest of the land under its possession for the memorial.
BMC has already handed over the 11,500sqm plot (Mayor's former bungalow) to the Bal Thackeray Memorial Trust on lease for 30 years on a nominal rent of Re1. Now, the process to hand over the 362sqm land will begin soon, said the civic officials.
A high-level committee headed by then state chief secretary Swadheen Kshatriya had recommended the Mayor's bungalow for the memorial four years back.
The panel had also suggested that the civic body should cancel the lease agreement of the 362sqm plot. The heritage grade-IIB bungalow at Shivaji Park is said to be dearest to late Thackeray and was thus chosen by the trust as the venue for the memorial.
