ABOUT THE STATUE OF UNITY:
The Statue of Unity is a colossal statue of Indian statesman and independence activist Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (1875–1950) in the state of Gujarat, India. It is the world's tallest statue with a height of 182 metres (597 ft). It is located on a river island facing the Sardar Sarovar Dam on the river Narmada in Kevadiya colony, 100 kilometres (62 mi) southeast of the city of Vadodara.
The project was first announced in 2010 and the construction of statue started in October 2014 by Larsen & Toubro, who received the contract for ₹2,989 crore. It was inaugurated by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 31 October 2018, the 143rd anniversary of Patel's birth.
PLANNING OF THE STATUE PROJECT:
On 7th october 2010,at a press conference to mark the beginning of his 10th year as the Chief Minister of Gujarat,Narendra Modi dubbed this project as "Gujarat's tribute to the nation".
A special purpose vehicle named the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Rashtriya Ekta Trust (SVPRET) was constituted by the Government of Gujarat for executing the project.A marathon entitled Run For Unity was held on 15 December 2013 in Surat in support of the project.
CONSTRUCTION OF STATUE:
After studying numerous statues of Patel across the country, a team of historians, artists, and academics chose to proceed with a design submitted by the Indian sculptor, Ram V. Sutar. The Statue of Unity is a much larger replica of a statue of the leader installed at Ahmedabad International Airport.The statue is built to withstand winds of up to 220 kilometres per hour (140 mph) and earthquakes measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale which are at a depth of 10 km and within a radius of 12 km of the statue. This is aided by the use of two 250-tonne tuned mass dampers which ensure maximum stability.
The total height of the structure from its base is 240 m (790 ft), with a base of 58 m (190 ft) and statue of 182 m (597 ft).[1] The height of 182 was specifically chosen to match the number of seats in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly.
A consortium comprising Turner Construction, Michael Graves and Associates and the Meinhardt Group supervised the project. It took 56 months to complete – 15 months for planning, 40 months for construction and two months for handing over by the consortium.
Larsen & Toubro won the contract on 27 October 2014 for its lowest bid of ₹29.89 billion for the design, construction and maintenance. They commenced the construction on 31 October 2014. In the first phase of the project, ₹13.47 billion were for the main statue, ₹2.35 billion for the exhibition hall and convention centre, ₹830 million for the bridge connecting the memorial to the mainland and ₹6.57 billion for the maintenance of the structure for 15 years after its completion. The Sadhu Bet hillock was flattened from 70 to 55 metres to lay the foundation.
L&T employed over 3000 workers and 250 engineers in the statue's construction. The core of the statue utilised 210,000 cubic metres of cement concrete, 6500 tonnes of structural steel, and 18500 tonnes of reinforced steel. The outer façade is made up of 1700 tonnes of bronze plates and 1850 tonnes of bronze cladding which in turn comprise 565 macro and 6000 micro panels. The bronze panels were cast in Jiangxi Tongqing Metal Handicrafts Co. Ltd in China as suitable facilities were unavailable in India.The bronze panels were transported by sea and tan road to the workshop near the construction site where they were assembled.
FEATURES:
The Statue of Unity is the world's tallest statue at 182 metres (597 ft). It rises 54 metres (177 ft) higher than the previous record holder, the Spring Temple Buddha in China's Henan province.Within India, the record was earlier held by the 41 m (135 ft) statue of Hanuman at the Paritala Anjaneya Temple near Vijayawada in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The statue can be seen within a 7 km radius.
The statue and its surroundings occupy more than 2 hectares (4.9 acres), and are surrounded by a 12 km (7.5 mi) long artificial lake formed by the Garudeshwar weir downstream on the Narmada river.
The statue is divided into five zones of which only three are accessible to the public. From its base to the level of Patel's shins is the first zone which has three levels and includes an exhibition area, mezzanine and roof. Zone 1 contains a memorial garden and a museum. The second zone reaches up to Patel's thighs at 149 metres, while the third extends up to the viewing gallery at 153 metres. Zone 4 is the maintenance area while the final zone comprises the head and shoulders of the statue.
The museum in zone 1 catalogues the life of Sardar Patel and his contributions. An adjoining audio-visual gallery provides a 15 minute presentation on Patel and also describes the tribal culture of the state. The concrete towers which form the statue's legs contain two elevators each. Each lift can carry 26 people at a time to the viewing gallery in just over 30 seconds. The gallery is located at a height of 153 metres (502 ft) and can hold up to 200 people.
OPEN TO PUBLIC:
Over 128,000 tourists visited it in 11 days since it was opened to the public on November 2018. Plans are underway to introduce alternate means of transport to improve accessibility to the memorial. An amphibian bus from Kevadiya is planned as is a jetty service from the site of the Sardar Sarovar dam and a ropeway. The statue remains closed every Monday for maintenance.
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