A year after her death, the Amma way government (Amma vazhi) is all set to erect a new memorial for former chief minister J. Jayalalithaa.
The new beachside memorial, to be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs.50.8 crore, will resemble a phoenix, to tell the future generation how Jayalalithaa, in her cinematic and political life, rose like the mythical bird by overcoming all oddities.
Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam on Monday laid the foundation stone for the memorial, after performing an hour-long yagna near the memorial, along with their ministerial colleagues. The first brick was placed by CM Palaniswami and the second by his deputy Panneerselvam to mark the formal inauguration of the memorial.
The new memorial will come up at the present beachside grave of Jayalalithaa, behind MGR memorial.
“The state government has designed the memorial. It will be built in the next one year,” Palaniswami told the media after laying the foundation stone.
With an ambitious structure looking like a phoenix, the design will be unique, with a wing-shaped main edifice. The entrance will have two lions; a manicured garden on both sides of the memorial, and also at the back, near the shore. The structure will be in pure white, to be built in a total area of 36,806 square metres, with a museum in 1300 square meters. The mandapam or the monument will be 15-metre tall.
The structure will be in a curvilinear shape, which resembles the prestigious two-leaves symbol of the AIADMK. The museum inside the memorial will have rare pictures of Jayalalithaa, starting from her days in cinema to all the significant events in her political life till the day she was admitted to the Apollo Hospitals in Chennai before her death. There will also be pictures of her in meetings with national and international leaders.
The project proposal for setting up the memorial has been designed by the state’s Public Works Department (PWD) and was submitted to the Tamil Nadu State Coastal Zone Management Authority (TNSCZMA) last month. The clearance for the constructing the memorial, according to sources, has been cleared in accordance with the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification. As per the new design, the existing 630 square metre building and the mausoleum will be demolished to complete the first phase of construction.
However, sources say the CRZ clearance has been given with certain conditions, saying there should be no ground water extraction from the memorial site, there should be adequate rain water harvesting structures, and also a greenbelt has to be developed. Besides, the memorial will have to be constructed in accordance with the seismic factors as it is near the beach.
It may be recalled that in December 2012, the MGR memorial, which also houses the present Jayalalithaa memorial, saw an elaborate makeover. A 16-foot Pegasus—the Greek mythological creature—was installed, replacing an arch. The tall winged horse, which signifies valour and energy, resembling the two-leaves symbol is the centrepiece at the existing MGR memorial.