<span style="color: #222222;">Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray laid the foundation stone for Balasaheb Thackeray National Memorial at Shivaji Park in suburban Dadar this evening.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The ground-breaking ceremony for the Balasaheb Thackeray National Memorial was organised keeping in view the coronavirus pandemic and only a limited number of guests were present at the physical event. The ceremony was also streamed online live.The foundation-laying ceremony was organised to coincide with Shiv Jayanti, which falls today as per the Hindu calendar. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">State Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat were among the dignitaries present on the occasion. On the occasion, the video clip elaborating the project plan was telecasted for the public.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The memorial will be built in two phases. While the memorial's architecture, electrical, interior and exterior decoration of the building, construction of parking lot, gardening and rainwater harvesting etc will be taken care of in the first phase, the second phase will involve putting in place the technological features like a laser show, digital mapping, films, audio-visual, virtual reality etc.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The memorial's architectural design has been prepared by the renowned Abha Lamba. The project will be implemented by Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority and the first phase of the construction is likely to be completed over the next 14 months.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The foundation stone for the memorial was laid today more than four years after a national trust was set up for the same. The memorial is being built on land at Shivaji Park in Dadar where the bungalow of the city mayor was located. The sea-facing property was earlier with the BMC and was transferred to the trust for the Rs 400-crore memorial.</span><br />''