One person was killed and two others injured, while two dozen others were rescued after a speed boat heading towards the proposed mid-sea Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Memorial construction site capsized off the Mumbai coast on Wednesday.
The Maharashtra Government-owned speed boat carrying 25 persons sank at around 4.15 pm after hit an underwater rock near proposed memorial construction located off the Prongs Lighthouse, leading to the rupturing of its hull.
The boat that capsized was among the five speedy which were heading towards the proposed memorial site for a foundation laying ceremony. The site is on a rocky outcrop located in the Arabian Sea 3.5 km from the Marine Drive in south Mumbai.
The ill-fated boat was carrying media persons and activists of the Shiv Sangram party to the proposed memorial construction site. Maharashtra Chief Secretary D K Jain, a few bureaucrats, Shiv Smarak Samiti President Vinayak Mete were among the occupants of the four other boats that accompanying the mishap-hit boat.
Identifying the drowned persons as 20-year-old political activist Siddhesh Pawar, a spokesperson of the disaster control cell of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said that a couple of hours after the mishap, Pawar’s body was recovered from the capsized boat by Navy divers and fire brigade personnel.
Two others Vikrant Ambre (50) and Ashok Lodha (53), who were injured in the mishap, were rushed to St George Hospital, where they were treated and allowed to go later in the night.
Mourning the death of Pawar in the mishap, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the family of the deceased boy. He also ordered an inquiry into the circumstances leading to the incident.
Mete, who was hosting the ceremony at the memorial site, said that nearly 200 persons including media persons, Government officials and political activists had departed in five boats from the Gateway of India jetty for the memorial function.
"I have visited that site over a dozen times, but such a thing has never happened. The authorities had taken all safety precautions and the boats were not overloaded," Mete said on his return to the jetty after the mishap.
Earlier, the Indian Navy, Indian Coast Guard, Marine Police and other agencies had launched a major operation with three helicopters, a hovercraft and boats to search for Pawar, whose body was fished out late in the evening
A second boat which was in the vicinity managed to reach site within minutes of the mishap, helped rescue all the people who were on board the ill-fated boat. The damaged boat was towed away by a Marine Police vessel to Girgaum Chowpatty in south Mumbai.
Eyewitnesses said that there was complete confusion over the incident. Initially there was no clarity as to whether one or two boats involved in the mishap and if the passengers were wearing safety jackets at the time of mishap. A majority of the passengers had not been given life jackets.
The mishap comes in the wake of severe flak that the Maharashtra Government had come under from the leaders of the fishermen community and political parties who had opposed the location of the memorial saying that the site was unsafe and had potential for more similar tragedies.
Education Minister Vinod Tawde, who went to meet the rescued persons, described the incident as “extremely unfortunate”, and said that a major tragedy was averted by timely action of the authorities.
It may be recalled that on March 1 this year, the Maharashtra Government had handed over the “Letter of Acceptance” (LoA) to the infrastructure major L & T and giving a go-ahead to the latter for the start of construction.
The go-ahead for the start of work on the Chhatrapati Shivaji memorial project had come 16 months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi performed the jal-poojan and bhoomi-poojan of the grand memorial of great Maratha warrior Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in the Arabian Sea.
A tall equestrian statue of the great Maratha warrior king will come up on a rocky islet around 3.5 km from the Marine Drive in south Mumbai. Initially, the State Government had claimed that the statue would be taller than the 305 ft statue of Liberty in New York harbour. Since there has been controversy over the height of the statue, it remains to be seen as to how tall Shivaji’s equestrian statue would ultimately be.
The State Government plans to develop landscaped gardens that can accommodate 3,000 people at a time. The memorial will – apart from the statue of Shivaji — house an open-air theatre, a library and a museum showcasing the Maratha warrior's life. Besides, the memorial will have a viewing gallery akin to the one at Statue of Liberty.
Last year, L&T was shortlisted for Rs 3,826-crore after the consortium of Reliance Infrastructure and Afcons quoted an estimate of Rs 4779-crore for the project.
The project was estimated to cost around around Rs 3,826 crore, but now official sources said there has been “a revision in the cost.”
The State Government intends to invest Rs 2,500 crore on the first phase of the project, while it will incur the remaining expenditure on the project in the second phase.