Relocate Shivaji memorial to safer venue in Raigad: Sambhaji Brigade chief

One person drowned in the speedboat capsize (Express Photo/Prashant Nadkar)

Four days after one person drowned and 24 others had a narrow escape as a speedboat carrying visitors to the site of the proposed Shivaji Memorial statue in the Arabian Sea off Mumbai’s Marine Drive capsized, state president of the Sambhaji Brigade Praveen Gaikwad said on Saturday the Chhatrapati Shivaji Memorial should be relocated to a safer venue.

Speaking at the ninth anniversary of Maratha Seva Sangh-Sambhaji Brigade at Alibaug, the Maratha leader said, “We don’t want the Shivaji Maharaj statue in water. Set it up in Raigad so that people don’t die while going to see it. On October 24, Siddhesh Pawar remained stuck in the private, air-conditioned speedboat, Vikrant MRM-1, as it had witnessed ingress of water after hitting a rocky surface underwater.

His body was later found in the vessel after it was towed to Sassoon Dock by the marine police arm of the Mumbai Police. Pawar was the nephew of an office-bearer of Shiv Sangram, a Maratha organisation championing the cause of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Statue for the past several years. Gaikwad said Pawar was a member of the Sambhaji Brigade.

“Instead of making the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue in the sea, make it at a safer venue, so that people’s life won’t be at risk,” he said. Gaikwad said the memorial of the warrior king should be set up near the Raigad Fort, which was once the capital of Shivaji Maharaj’s empire.