Statue of Unity

Statue of Unity एकता की प्रतिमा
An artists impression of the statue
Location of construction site in Gujarat state
Coordinates	21°50′16″N 73°43′8″E / 21.83778°N 73.71889°E / 21.83778; 73.71889
Location	Sadhu bet, Near Sardar Sarovar Dam, Gujarat, India
Designer	Larsen and Toubro
Type	Statue
Material	Steel framing, reinforced cement concrete, bronze coating[1]
Height	statue: 182 metres (597 ft) including base: 240 metres (790 ft) [1]
Beginning date	31 October 2014
Dedicated to	Sardar Patel
www.statueofunity.in

The Statue of Unity is an under construction 182 metres (597 ft) monument of Vallabhbhai Patel ^[2]that will be created directly facing the Narmada Dam, 3.2 km away on the river island called Sadhu Bet near Vadodara in Gujarat. This statue is planned to be spread over 20000 square meters of project area. It will also be surrounded with a man-made lake spread across 12 km of area.^[3] It would be the world's tallest statue.^[4] Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Rashtriya Ekta Trust (SVPRET), a special purpose vehicle was established by the Gujarat government and the outreach programme across India was carried out starting December 2013.^[5]

Initially the total cost of the project was estimated to be about 2063 crore (US$330 million) by the government. Later Larsen and Toubro won the contract in October 2014 for its lowest bid of 2989 crore (US$470 million) for the design, construction and maintenance. The construction was started on 31st October 2014.^[6][7]

Outreach

Patel is considered as one of the founding fathers of the Republic of India

Run for Unity held at Vadodara

The project was first announced on October 7, 2010.^[8] Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Rashtriya Ekta Trust (SVPRET), a special purpose vehicle was established by the Gujarat government for construction of the statue.^[5] The iron needed for the statue and other structures was to be collected from farmers of villages all around India in a form of donation of their used farming instruments.^[9] SVPRET set up 36 offices across India to collect these iron instruments^[5] wherein over 500,000 Indian farmers are expected to donate.^[10] The drive was named the 'Statue of Unity movement'.^[11][12] There was to be three-month-long nationwide campaign to collect iron pieces from six lakh villages to build the statue.^[12] During this period, over 5000 metric tonnes of iron were intended to be collected^[13] Although it was initially announced that the iron collected will be used for the main statue, it later emerged that the collected iron will not be used in construction of the actual statue and will instead be used for some other part of the project.^[14]

The Statue of Unity Movement will also organize a Suraaj ( good governance in Hindi) petition wherein people can write about their ideas for the good governance. The Suraaj Petition is expected to be signed by an estimated 20 million people, which will make it the world's largest petition signed.^[11] A marathon entitled Run For Unity was held on December 15, 2013 in several places throughout India.^[15] The marathon had a large turnout and sign-ups before the event reported thousands of registrations.^{[11][16][17][18]}

Project

The monument statue of Vallabhbhai Patel will be constructed facing the Narmada Dam, 3.2 km away on the river island called Sadhu Bet. The total height of the statue from its base will be 240 metre consisting base level of 58 metre and statue of 182 metre. It will be constructed with steel framing, reinforced cement concrete and bronze coating.^[1] The statue will need 75000 cubic metres of concrete, 5700 metric tonne steel structure, 18500 tonne reinforced steel rods, 22500 tonne bronze sheets for construction.^[7] In the first phase, a bridge connecting the memorial to the main land, a memorial, visitor centre buildings, a memorial garden, a hotel, a convention centre, an amusement park, research centres and institutes will also be constructed.^[4]

Finance

The monument will be built on a PPP model, with most of the money raised by private contribution.^[19] The Government of Gujarat has allotted Rs 100 crore for the project in the budget for 2012-13^[20] and Rs 500 crore in 2014-15.^[21] In the 2014-15 Union Budget announced on 10 July 2014, 2 billion (US$32 million) have been allocated for the construction of the statue.^[22][23][24]

Construction

A consortium of Turner Construction (project manager^[25] of Burj Khalifa), Michael Graves and Associates and Meinhardt Group, will supervise the project. It will take 56 months to complete the project; 15 months for planning, 40 months for construction and two months for handing over by the consortium.^[4] The total cost of the project was estimated to be about 2063 crore (US$330 million) by the government.^[20] The tender bids for the first phase were invited in October 2013 and were closed in November 2013.^[26]

Foundation stone for Statue of Unity laid by Narendra Modi.

The then Chief Minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi, (currently Prime Minister of India) laid the foundation stone of statue on 31 October 2013, the 138th birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.^[8][27] He along with L. K. Advani announced to the public that after completion of the project, it will be the tallest statue of the world.^[8][19][28]

Indian infrastructure company Larsen and Toubro bagged the contract on 27 October 2014 for its lowest bid of 2989 crore (US$470 million) for the design, construction and maintenance.^[6][7] They commenced the construction on 31 October 2014 and is expected to complete it by 2018. In the first phase of 2989 crore (US$470 million) project, Rs 1347 crore are for the main statue, Rs 235 crore for exhibition hall and convention centre, Rs 83 crore for the bridge connecting the memorial to the main land and Rs 657 crore for the maintenance of the structure for 15 years after its completion.^[6][7]

Issues

Some local people have opposed land acquisition for tourism infrastructure development around the statue. They also claimed that Sadhu bet was originally called Varata Bawa Tekri, named after a local deity and so it was a site of religious importance.^[27]

Environmental activists wrote a letter to central government that this project started implementation without environmental clearance from the ministry.^[29]

People of Kevadia, Kothi, Waghodia, Limbdi, Navagam and Gora villages opposed the construction of the statue demanding back land rights of formerly acquired 927 acres of land for dam and the formation of Garudeshwar taluka. They also opposed formation of Kevadia Area Development Authority (KADA) and the construction of Garudeshwar weir-cum-causeway project. Government of Gujarat accepted their demands.^[30]

When 2 billion (US$32 million) was allocated for the statue in the 2014-15 Union budget, several people and the political parties criticised the expenditure for the statue over other priorities like women's safety, education and agricultural schemes.^{[31][32][33][34]}

See also

• List of statues by height
• Statue of Equality

References

External links

• Official Website