Music school in Lata Mangeshkar’s memory planned in Kalina

Lata Mangeshkar. Pic/AFP

Putting to rest the controversy over building a memorial dedicated to the late Lata Mangeshkar, the state cabinet has plans to set up one in Mumbai at the earliest.

It has been learnt that the government will start an international music school named after the Bharat Ratna awardee. It will bear the name: Bharat Ratna Lata Deenanath Mangeshkar International Music College. The site on which it will be built is owned by Mumbai University and is next to its Kalina campus.

The controversy erupted a day after Mangeshkar's death when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress demanded that a memorial be built at Shivaji Park where she was cremated. The Shiv Sena had asked them to wait and not politicise the issue. The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena said the playground should not be disturbed. mid-day had reported that the Cabinet was set to take a decision this week.

Higher and Technical Education Minister Uday Samant proposed a tweaked concept that was being worked on to build a music college in the name of Mangeshkar's illustrious singer-actor father Deenanath. The cabinet endorsed it and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray asked Samant to come back with a detailed project report in the next meeting. Samant said in Pune that the college will have a museum of international standards where people can also research.

"One-and-a-half years ago, my department had decided to set up the Master Deenanath Mangeshkar International Music College on land in Kalina, which belongs to Mumbai University. A committee was set up, of which Hridaynath Mangeshkar (Lata Mangeshkar's brother) was made chairman, while Usha Mangeshkar (her sister), Adinath Mangeshkar, Zakir Hussain, A R Rahman, Suresh Wadkar and several other personalities were its members," Samant said.

"During our meeting with her family members, they proposed that the college name be changed to Bharat Ratna Lata Deenanath Mangeshkar as he was her father and guru," Samant added.

Inputs from agencies