From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bengaluru, Oct 18: An 80 ft tall flagpole is being installed at the National Military Memorial in Bengaluru, which is scheduled to be inaugurated by Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on December 16 to mark the celebration of the Vijay Divas.
Chief Minister’s Political Secretary Shakaragouda Patil, Chief Secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar, Urban Development Department Secretary Rajneesh Goel and other senior officials visited the site of the memorial and inspected the various installations in Bengaluru on Friday.
A motivational hall and other military displays are to be installed.
Incidentally, Yediyurappa in his earlier tenure as the Chief Minister, had laid the foundation stone for establishing the military memorial in honour of the soldiers in February 2009 with a target for completion of the entire work within 2 to 3 years. But the project, assigned to the Bengaluru Development Authority for overseeing, was delayed.
The National Military Memorial dedicated to the soldiers who sacrifice their lives at a 7.5 acre lush green space in the heart of the city adjacent to the Indira Gandhi Musical Fountain.
The memorial consists of a series of angled granite plaques etched with the names of 22,000 war heroes, and is adjacent to a magnificent 65 m high flagpole that was intended to hold the country’s largest flag.
A veeragallu (hero stone), symbolic of the heroic death of a warrior in battle, was also proposed as a part of the installation to signify the strength and conviction of the martyred soldiers.
The memorial also hosts a Mikoyan MiG 23 BN SM-255 aircraft granted by the Indian Air Force, a Vijayanta tank given by the Indian Army, a resized model of the INS Mysore (one of India's largest and most powerful battleships), an Arjun battle tank, Tatra-based mobile bridging equipment as well as other contributions from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
The site also houses an underground hall that showcases models of weapon systems, information on the various missions undertaken by soldiers, plaques with badges and crests of various units, regiments and squadrons of the Indian Armed Forces, and sculptures of war heroes from Karnataka.