Statue Of Unity

An engineering marvel, the world’s tallest statue – Sardar Patel’s statue or the Statue of Unity – was inaugurated during the gala function on Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s birth anniversary on October 31, 2018. The statue is located on Sadhu bet, a hillock between the Vindhyachal and Satpura ranges that offers a Bird’s eye view of the Sardar Sarovar Dam.

The Sardar Patel statue near the Narmada dam in Gujarat is only the tallest in the world but also the one to be completed in the shortest time. The 182 m statue of Unity took 33 months to be completed while China’s Spring Temple Buddha statue took 11 years. Built by Larsen and Toubro Limited at a cost of ₹ 2,989 crore, the Statue of Unity is made up of 1850 tonnes of bronze cladding on the exterior. 

The statue was designed by famous sculptor, Ram Sutar. ” Statue of Unity is a bigger replica of the Sardar Patel statue at Ahmedabad International Airport. The expression, poster and post justify the dignity, confidence, iron will as well as kindness that Sardar Patel exhibited throughout his life. The head is up, a shawl flung from shoulders are on the side as if he is set to walk,” Anil Sutar, who has worked along with his father Ram on the design,  said. From 157 m, around the chest level, a visitors gallery with the capacity to accommodate a batch of 200 people offers a view of the Satpura and Vindhyachal mountain ranges. The base of the statue, with an exhibit floor, houses a memorial Garden and Museum Onam multimedia platform. From here, two Elevators to carry 40 people each at a single time take visitors to the viewing gallery.

To connect the entire nation with the statue and iron campaign was started, in which an agricultural tool was collected from around 700,000 villages across India, melted and used. 135 tonnes of iron was donated by farmers to support the project, for which Prime Minister Modi’s slogan was Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat ( One India, Nobel India). 

          Author – Palak Bedi