The family of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has approved the proposed site for his memorial at the Rashtriya Smriti Sthal in New Delhi. The memorial, measuring around 900 square metres, will be located adjacent to the memorial of former President Pranab Mukherjee. A trust will be set up to oversee the construction of the memorial, which will be funded by a government grant of Rs 25 lakh.
The government has decided to set up a memorial for former president Pranab Mukherjee at the 'Rashtriya Smriti' area complex. Mukherjee's daughter Sharmistha Mukherjee met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and thanked him for the decision. The government has also agreed to set up a memorial for former prime minister Manmohan Singh, with a site being finalised at the same Rashtriya Smriti area in consultation with his family.
Meanwhile, a 25-feet high statue of Vajpayee will be installed in Uttar Pradesh government secretariat in Lucknow
There will be no separate samadhis for VVIPs in Delhi as the government on Thursday decided to have a common complex for memorials of departed national leaders like Presidents, vice presidents and prime ministers. The Union Cabinet cleared a proposal to set up 'Rashtriya Smriti' along the Yamuna river in central Delhi in view of the paucity of space as around 245 acres of prime land in the national capital has already been occupied by separate samadhis.
Vajpayee's last rites will be performed at the Rashtriya Smriti Sthal in New Delhi at 4 pm on Friday.
Vajpayee's ashes will be immersed in rivers in all the districts in Uttar Pradesh -- his karmabhoomi.
After the people pay their homage for an hour on Friday morning, the late prime minister's body will be taken to the BJP headquarters where it will lie in state before the funeral.
Thousands of mourners jostled and some clambered on trees to capture the moment on their phones as former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's cortege left the Bharatiya Janata Party's headquarters for Rashtriya Smriti Sthal.
Former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao has finally got a memorial in his name in the national capital, ten years after his demise.
"You can change friends but not neighbours," Atal Bihari Vajpayee famously said this 15 years ago.
He was admitted to the AIIMS on June 11 with a kidney tract infection, urinary tract infection, low urine output and chest congestion.
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