Six more acres allotted for Kalam’s memorial

After the death of Kalam in 2015, land was allotted at Peikarumbu for his burial. On his first death anniversary in 2016, his statue was unveiled and foundation for his memorial and a knowledge centre at a cost of Rs 50 crore was laid. 

DRDO was entrusted with the construction work and they had planned to complete the memorial, at the cost of Rs 15 crore, by the second death anniversary. Speaking to media after inspecting the works being carried out there on Sunday, Ramanathapuram Collector S Natarajan announced that six more acres of land would be allotted for the memorial, which would be used for parking facilities. 

Earlier, the Collector, who inspected the land opposite the memorial, where a railway line ran, said, there would be some severe parking crisis in the upcoming memorial during important occasions and programmes. 

“The land identified close to the railway track will be helpful to ease congestion in future. So, we have decided to allot the poramboke land measuring six acres for the memorial,” said Natarajan. When asked about Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurating Kalam’s memorial on July 27, he replied that he was not sure about the participation of the Prime Minister. 

However, DRDO officials said that Union Defence Minister Arun Jaitley would visit the memorial on July 10 and inspect the completed work.  “We have fixed July 10 as the target for completion of all the works,” a DRDO official said. 

In the meantime, more than 2,000 saplings from Mysuru were brought to the memorial. They will be planted and maintained there. “Kalam promoted planting of large number of trees all over the country. To honour his wishes, we have planned to grow more trees around his memorial. Nearly, 2,000 plants have been brought from Mysuru for the purpose,” noted an official.