Rs 500 crore sanctioned
By Brig. (Retd.) Vijay Atray, New Delhi.
New Delhi. 07Oct 2015. Acceding to a long pending demand of the armed forces, the government today approved a Rs 500 crore project for building a National War Memorial and a National War Museum near India Gate.
The Government of India has decided to erect a National War Memorial in the vicinity of the India Gate, New Delhi, to honor its Armed Forces and memorialize armed forces members killed in war after Independence in 1947. A War Museum will be constructed in the adjoining Princes Park area. The proposed National War Memorial and the War Museum will be connected by a subway. The War Memorial and Museum are expected to cost 400 crore (US$60 million).
The memorial will be made around the existing canopy near India Gate. The memorial wall will be flushed with the ground and in harmony with existing aesthetics. Names of martyrs killed in wars in 1947–48, 1961 (Goa), 1962 (Chinese aggression), 1965, 1971, 1987 ( Saichen), 1987-88 (Sri Lanka), 1999 (Kargil), and other Operations will be inscribed on a memorial wall. Assistance of foreign architects is expected to taken. The Government is expected to issue a global tender for the construction of the War memorial.
The museum at the adjoining Princess Park will be largely underground, and connected to the memorial area via a subway. The Princess Park, is a 14-acres area north of India Gate, with barrack-type accommodation, built during World War II, which since 1947 has served as family accommodation for mid level armed forces officers posted in Service Headquarters in New Delhi.
In memory of over 22,500 soldiers who laid down their lives post Independence, this memorial would be built at Rajpath. The defence personnel are very happy with the announcement. However,they want the memorial to be constructed in less than 5 years-the time stipulated by the Cabinet.
