Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi will be on a day's visit to Maharashtra on December 24. He is going to lay the foundation stone for the grand memorial of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, a Maratha warrior king and the metro rail projects in Mumbai and Pune.

Prime Minister Modi will leave for MIDC Patalganga in neighbouring Raigad district after landing in Mumbai, there he will inaugurate the National Institute of Securities Management - SEBI's new campus. The Prime Minister will then head towards Raj Bhavan and later move towards Girgaum Chowpatty for the Shivaji Memorial event.

He proceeds to the site in the Arabian Sea off Mumbai coast, where the state government has been planning to build a mega memorial for Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

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The Prime Minister's visit will assume political significance as the high-stake elections to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) are just a few months away.

The main feature of the Shivaji memorial is that it has slated to cost Rs. 3,600 crore, and there will be a 192 metre tall statue of the iconic Maratha king. The site is a rocky outcrop, roughly 1.5 km away from the Raj Bhavan shore.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis recently said that the 'Shiv Smarak' will not only be the tallest memorial in the country, but in the entire world. He had thanked PM Modi for "making it possible."

By Prakriti Neogi