Maratha activist and convener of the Maratha Kranti Morcha, Vinod Patil, has issued an ultimatum to the state government, demanding that work on the Shivaji statue in the Arabian Sea must begin within three months, or else the Maratha community will start working on the project independently.
“The government must start work on the Shivaji memorial in the Arabian Sea within three months. If it is finding it difficult to take the project ahead, it should give us the nod to carry the work forward and we shall do so,” Patil said.
Patil, one of the petitioners in the Maratha quota case, said that the Marathas had been demanding a grand memorial for Shivaji Maharaj and accordingly, even the ‘jalpoojan’ ceremony had been performed in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Project challenged in courts leading to delay
However, after this, the project was challenged in courts by various groups and the government kept delaying the work on the project under the pretext of the matter being sub judice, he added.
“The project is mammoth andwe canunderstandif there are delays. But now, these delays have gone on for too long. The government should act on it or give us the permission to take the project ahead. If the government doesn’t have enough funds, people will come forward with donations. Thousands of crores worth of funds canbe raisedwithpublic participationand the workcan be started,” Patil said.
