The park, which cost Rs 685 crores to the state’s exchequer, is meant to honour Dalit icons and has over two dozen huge statues of Mayawati, her mentor Kanshi Ram and Dr BR Ambedkar among others.
The BSP leader is due to address around 40,000 party workers who are expected to gather for the inauguration. As per reports, the Chief Minister will land and depart from a helipad set up at the Apeejay School (Sector 16) ground.
The grand opening of the memorial is being seen as Mayawati’s official start of her party’s poll campaigning in view of the state’s Assembly Elections due next year.
The memorial has been erected on a land that initially housed a park. When work first began for building it in 2008, residents were upset as they were denied access to the park. Then over 6,000 trees were cut.
Angry residents then moved Supreme Court. An initial enquiry ordered by the Environment Ministry found several environmental violations. And the fact that the memorial was coming up close to the Okhla Bird Sanctuary further compounded issues. But in December last year, the Supreme Court cleared the project with a rider - not more than 25 percent of the total 84 acres could be paved, the rest would have to be planted with trees.
Several other court cases have challenged Mayawati's decision to use taxpayers' money to fund her mega memorials. Most of them remain unsettled. Mayawati’s political opponents have accused the Chief minister of having a feudal mindset and wasting crores of tax payers’ money for installing statues of her family members.
The Supreme Court's go ahead to the park might have left the local residents fuming but the Noida administration has left no stone unturned in ensuring a grand opening of the park today.
Days ahead of the inauguration, Noida has been witnessing a flurry of activities aimed at making the city beautiful. As a result, several freshly-painted buildings, new lighting, clean roads and hundreds of BSP banners welcoming the Chief Minister have been installed.
Although whole Noida seems to be involved, most of the activity is concentrated around the Chief Minister's dream project- the Ambedkar Park - officially the Rashtriya Dalit Prerna Smarak Evam Green Garden.
The park, which is in Mayawati's native Badalpur village, features grand lawns, hundreds of trees and fountains.
A number of lawns have been manicured and trees assembled in symmetrical rows. Scores of workers have also sandpapered the recently-built fountains and pathways that run through the park.
Outside, the road leading up to the park has also been given a complete makeover. Two fresh coats of paint along the road and the curb as well as new tree protectors make it seem like the roads have been built anew especially for the inauguration.
Streetlights have been replaced, in some cases with floodlights that will illuminate the park in the evening.
Mayawati is set to inaugurate a slew of other projects as well, including a boys college, the main campus of the Gautam Buddh College, an 84- crore Buddhist Museum and Research Centre and a number of other works.
Elaborate security arrangements have been put in place to avoid any untoward incident. Consequently, traffic restrictions have been imposed in and around the memorial and the traffic is being diverted at several places - Film City crossing, Mahamaya flyover and other sectors of Noida - between 2 pm and 8 pm.
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