National War Memorial To Come Up At India Gate Complex

NEW DELHI: Defense Minister Arun Jaitley gave the final nod to the much-delayed National War Memorial project which would be built in the India Gate complex at a proposed cost of around 400 crore.

The Defense Minister agreed to the proposal made by the Army for building a war memorial at the 'Chhatri complex' of India Gate after visiting the national war museum site at the Princes' Park locality near India Gate, Defense Ministry officials said.

On Kargil Vijay Diwas on July 26, the Minister had said that after discussions with the forces and visiting the proposed area, he would take a call on whether the memorial should be constructed at India Gate or the Princes' Park.

The Minister was given a detailed briefing by the Army on the proposed construction site of the war memorial, which was first planned to be constructed in 1960 in remembrance of Indian soldiers who have lost their lives in various wars and operations, they said.

Army Chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag and Defense Secretary R K Mathur briefed the Defense Minister on the proposed project where the war museum and the war memorial would be connected through an underpass to be built at the India Gate complex circle.

The memorial will have names of more than 21,000 Indian troops who have lost lives in various operations since 1947.

The Army had given a presentation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue on August 6 where the force was asked to involve international designers and architects to build a grand memorial as promised by the BJP during the Lok Sabha poll campaign.

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