Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's statue of Unity is built at a cost of Rs.
2,389 crore.New Delhi/Ahmedabad:Prime Minister Narendra Modi will dedicate to the country the Statue of Unity, built as a tribute to freedom movement icon Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on his 143rd birth anniversary today.Built at a cost of Rs.
2,389 crore, the statue depicts Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, India's first Home Minister, wearing a traditional dhoti and shawl, towering over the Narmada River.
Iron was collected from all over the country for the statue of Sardar Patel, also known as the Iron Man of India.
At 182-metre, the statue is touted as the world's tallest - it is 177 feet higher than China's Spring Temple Buddha, currently the world's tallest statue.The statue has been designed by Padma Bhushan-winning sculptor Ram V Sutar and has been built by Larsen and Toubro and the state-run Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd.
It took about 250 engineers and 3,400 labourers to construct the statue in 33 months.The statue will have a viewing gallery at the height of 193 metres from the sea level which can accommodate 200 visitors at a time.
This gallery, at 153 metres height, will offer a view of the Sardar Sarovar Dam, its reservoir, and the Satpura and Vindhya mountain ranges According to Gujarat government officials, the unveiling of the Statue of Unity event has been planned on the scale of the Republic Day celebrations.
According to information, Prime Minister Modi and other leaders will pour soil and water of the Narmada into an urn, and Ganesh mantra, Narmada mantra and Swasti vanchan will be chanted during the event.PM Modi's schedule at the event9:00 am: Arrival at Kevadia9:10 am: Visit to Valley of flowers9:50 am: Visit to Tent city (accommodation facility)10:15 am: Arrival at the venue of the program for cultural events10:20 am: Visit to the 'Wall of Unity' (topmost area of the statue)11:35 am: Official inauguration of the statue11:45 am: Visit to the museum and exhibitionThe statue will have a museum on the life of Sardar Patel at the base, and two high speed lifts will take people to the viewers' gallery, from where they can see beyond the Narmada Dam.Once completed, around 15,000 tourists are likely to visit the statue every day, officials said.The museum will have 40,000 documents, 2,000 photographs and a research centre dedicated to Sardar Patel's life.Major facts on Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel:Kheda Satyagraha and Bardoli Satyagrah, both of which times the British bowed downElected as Ahmedabad's municipal president in 1924 and 1928Elected President of the Indian National Congress in 1931Independent India's first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister and IB MinisterThe Architect of United India post independencePosthumously, conferred with Bharat Ratna in 1991Unveiling of Statue of Unity a "BJP event": Gujarat CongressThe Gujarat Congress Tuesday has dubbed the event as a "BJP programme".
The main opposition party said none of its leaders will take part in the statue dedication ceremony.Gujarat Congress said it has organised its own event to mark the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel."We have organised our own programme to mark the birth anniversary of Sardar Patel.
We will have a lecture programme, which will be delivered by former Bhavnagar University vice chancellor Vidyut Joshi.A viewing gallery has been created inside the statue to enable tourists to have a view of the dam and nearby mountain ranges.A 17-km-long Valley of Flowers, a tent city for tourists near the statue and a museum dedicated to the life and times of Patel are some of the major attractions near the Statue of Unity.Rajnath Singh flags off "Run for Unity" event in DelhiVillagers to protest PM's visitLocal villagers have threatened protest over the inauguration of the statue.
On Monday, the headmen of 22 villages near the Sardar Sarovar Dam wrote an open letter to PM Modi stating that villagers would not welcome him at the inauguration."These forests, rivers, waterfalls, land and agriculture supported us for generations.
We survived on them.
But, everything is being destroyed now and celebrations are also planned.
Don't you think its akin to celebrating someone's death We feel so," the letter, having common content and signed by sarpanchas of 22 villages, stated.They alleged that people's hard-earned money is being wasted on projects like Statue of Unity though several villages of the area are still deprived of basic facilities like schools, hospitals and drinking water.Built in less than five years, the Statue of Unity is the world's tallest, grandest and giant statue.
It is a tribute to Sardar Patel as he united all diverse 562 princely states to build one great Republic of India.A 30 feet tall replica of the Statue of Unity was inaugurated at Baben village in Bardoli, Gujarat in 2015.
The statue is being projected by the BJP as a symbol of unity and as a message that the Congress underplayed the contribution of Sardar Patel towards the country in favour of the Nehru-Gandhi family.
The Prime Minister will unveil the Statue of Unity on the birth anniversary of Sardar Patel at Sadhu Bet, near Narmada Dam.