London, April 15 (PTI): The Leicester city council today gave its approval to installing a statue of Mahatma Gandhi, ending months of contentious debate over the merits of the move.

The council planning committee met this evening and the approval was given after a presentation by officials.

There was no debate at the meeting on the merits of putting up Gandhi’s statue, a council spokesperson said.

The 3.8-metre statue will be located off Belgrave Road, the nerve-centre of commercial and cultural activities of people of Gujarati origin.

The cost of the statue, £20,000 (Rs 15.7 lakh), will be met by the Samanvaya Parivar, a charity organisation.

The campaign to install a statue of the Mahatma in Leicester, which has a sizeable Gujarati population, ran into trouble when some local groups opposed the move, saying the town should have the statue of local football hero Gary Lineker.

Lineker, however, supported the move to install the Gandhi statue.

The campaign’s lead supporter was the Goan-origin Labour MP from Leicester East, Keith Vaz. It also received the backing of Richard Attenborough, who made the Oscar-winning film on Gandhi.