Statue of Unity-The Tallest, The Grandest

The Statue of Unity is built in dedication to Iron Man Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who served as the first home minister of independent India. Sardar Patel is credited with uniting all 562 princely states in pre-independent India to build the Republic of India -- hence the name of the statue. At 182 metre, the statue is 23 metre taller than China's Spring Temple Buddha statue and almost double the height of the Statue of Liberty (93-metre-tall) in US.The date for the inauguration of the statue (October 31, 2018) also marks the 143rd birth anniversary of Sardar Patel.

Located on the Sadhu Bet island, near Rajpipla on the Narmada river, the Statue of Unity is located between the Satpura and the Vindhya mountain ranges. A 3.5 km highway will be used to connect the statue to Gujarat's Kevadia town.

The project was first announced on 7 October 2010.Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Rashtriya Ekta Trust (SVPRET) was established by the Gujarat government for construction of the statue. A drive named the Statue of Unity Movement was started to support the construction of the statue. It helped collect the iron needed for the statue by asking Indian farmers to donate their used farming instruments. Ultimately 5,000 tonnes(4,900 long tons; 5,500 short tons) of iron were collected. Although it was initially intended for the statue, it was later decided that the collected iron would instead be used for other parts of the project. The statue has been built using over 70,000 tonnes of cement, 18,500 tonnes of reinforcement steel, 6,000 tonnes of structural steel and 1,700 metric tonnes of bronze, which was used for the outer cladding of the structure.

Although lying in a remote corner, the Gujarat government has already started promoting the Rs 3,000 crore statue as a major tourism destination. On an average, 15,000 visitors are expected daily to the site. Since it is double the height of New York’s world famous Statue of Liberty, the Statue of Unity is also likely to draw a decent number of foreign tourists besides domestic visitors from all over India.

The Statue of Unity Movement organised a Suraaj ("good governance" in Hindi) petition which was signed by an estimated 20 million people, which was the world's largest petition. A marathon entitled Run for Unity was held on 15 December 2013 in several places throughout India.

A consortium comprising Turner Construction (project manager of Burj Khalifa), Michael Graves and Associates and 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. The total cost of the project was estimated to be about ₹2,063 crore (US$290 million) by the government.

Narendra Modi, then serving as Chief Minister of Gujarat, laid the statue's foundation stone on 31 October 2013, the 138th anniversary Patel's birth.

Indian infrastructure company Larsen & Toubro won the contract on 27 October 2014 for its lowest bid of ₹2,989 crore (US$420 million) for the design, construction and maintenance. They commenced the construction on 31 October 2014. In the first phase of the project, ₹1347 crore were for the main statue, ₹235 crore for the exhibition hall and convention centre, ₹83 crore for the bridge connecting the memorial to the mainland and ₹657 crore for the maintenance of the structure for 15 years after its completion. Accenture provides digital media outreach program. The monument is designed by Ram V. Sutar.

The statue was completed in 33 months. The foundation was laid down in 2013; construction was completed in mid-October 2018; and the inaugural ceremony was held on 31 October 2018, presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Issues

When ₹2 billion (US$28 million) was allocated for the statue in the 2014–15 Union budget, several people and political parties criticized the expenditure on the statue over other priorities, such as women's safety, education and agricultural schemes. L&T contracted with TQ Art Foundry – a subsidiary of the Jiangxi Toqine Company based in Nanchang, China – for the bronze cladding of the statue, which was criticized by the Indian National Congress, the opposition party in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly. It was later clarified by Swarajyamag that 9 percent of the total value of the project was sourced from China.

Here are 10 interesting facts that distinguish the Statue of Unity from other statues in the world:

1. The Statue of Unity is the tallest statue in the world. At 182 metres, it is 23 metres taller than China's Spring Temple Buddha statue and almost double the height of the Statue of Liberty (93 metres tall) in US.

2. The statue will be able to withstand wind velocity up to 60 m/s, vibration and earthquakes.

3. It was built within three-and-a-half years by an army of over 3,000 workers, including 300 engineers from infrastructure major Larsen & Toubro (L&T).

4. As Gujarat chief minister, Modi had announced the project in 2010 ahead of civic elections in Ahmedabad. The project, which cost Rs 3,050 crore, was fully funded by the Gujarat government.

5. The Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Rashtriya Ekta Trust (SVPRET), a special purpose vehicle set up by Modi in 2011, arranged some 129 tonnes of iron implements from nearly 100 million farmers in 169,000 villages across all states to construct the base of the statue in the 'Loha' campaign.

6. The Statue of Unity was built by Padma Bhushan recipient sculptor Ram V Sutar and intricate bronze cladding work was done by a Chinese foundry, the Jiangxi Toqine Company (JTQ).

7. The viewing gallery for the statue, at 153 metres, can accommodate 200 people at a time and offer an expansive view of the Sardar Sarovar Dam.

8. The Statue of Unity will comprise two semi-joined, composite concrete cylindrical cores, surrounded by a structural steel space frame to support the exterior cladding. 5700 Million ton of structural steel and reinforcement bars of 18500Mton were used to build the statue.

9. The statue is a three-layered structure. The innermost layer is made of reinforced cement concrete (RCC), comprising two towers 127 metres high that rise till the statue's chest. The second layer is a steel structure and the third an 8 mm bronze cladding on the surface.

10. The RCC towers, which at the bottom form Patel's dhoti-clad legs, have two lifts each. Each lift can carry 26 people to the top in just above half a minute.

Statue of Unity will be a Historical Symbol of India’s technological advancements. It will be the symbol of unity across the world and it will surely attract thousands of tourists from across the globe.