India to get her own 'liberty' statue soon

According to Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, at 309 feet, the statue of Maratha warrior-hero Chhatrapati Shivaji on a horse, cast in bronze, which the state government plans to erect off the coast of Mumbai in the Arabian Sea, would be a shade higher than New York's icon.

''We are also planning a lights and sound show and a museum so that people get to know Shivaji, the king and the administrator,'' Deshmukh said.

The state government has already zeroed in on a small island measuring 30,000 square meters, about 2 km away from the city's coast, where the Rs.100 crore ($24 million) statue will be set up and plans to operate a ferry service along the city's coast.

However, the government's plans has not gone down well with the people of Mumbai who feel that the move is merely aimed at winning votes with the local assembly polls round the corner. Some people have also criticized the government for being wasteful, as the money could have been used for developing the infrastructure of the city, which becomes submerged under water every monsoon.

Others believe that the statue will spoil the aesthetic beauty of Mumbai's most famous promenade - the Marine Drive.