Name coastal road in Mumbai after Lata Mangeshkar, her kin request govt

Coinciding with the first death anniversary of Lata Mangeshkar, the family has urged the Maharashtra government and BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation to name the upcoming Coastal Road project after the melody queen.

Mangeshkar (September 28, 1929 – February 6, 2022), who passed away aged 92, was a resident of Prabhu Kunj at Peddar Road in Mumbai.

Tourism Minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha, who is seven-time BJP MLA from Malabar Hill, has written to Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis making a formal demand.

Members of the Mangeshkar-family and Lodha along with BMC officials on Monday were present at the ground-breaking ceremony to build a memorial of the late playback singer at Haji Ali in Mumbai.

Read | Her voice, her memories linger on; family remembers Lata Mangeshkar on first death anniversary

The proposed 40-feet tall memorial known as ‘Swarancha Kalpvriksha’ (Melodious Tree) will be built through Lodha’s MLA funds - and would be commissioned in six months’ time.

The foundation stone laying ceremony was attended by Lodha, the entire Mangeshkar clan of Usha Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosale, Meena Khadikar, Hridaynath Mangeshkar, Adinath Mangeshkar and others, Bollywood personalities like Shivaji Satam, Sudesh Bhosale, Nitin Mukesh among others.

Mangeshkar’s sister and veteran singer Usha Mangeshkar formally made a plea to name the flyover after the legendary singer.

“Its quite close to our home.The Maharashtra government and the BMC are working on it and it will be ready soon. We want it to be named in memory of Lata Didi,” she said.

Mangeshkar’s nephew and singer-composer Adinath Mangeshkar said: “Lodha ji met Usha ji to discuss the memorial. It was also learnt that there was no formal request to name the coastal road and hence it was requested to name the coastal road after Lata Didi. This is a humble request and the government should think about it.”

The Coastal Road is an eight-lane 29.2-km-long grade separated expressway that would run on Western coast of Mumbai connecting Marine Lines to Kandivali suburbs. The first phase of the project is expected to be commissioned this year.