Essay on Statue of Unity| Statue of Unity Essay for Students, UPSC

Essay on Statue of Unity| Statue of Unity Essay for Students, UPSC: The statue of first deputy Prime minister and Home minister of Independent India, Late Vallabhbhai Patel, stands proudly in the state of Gujrat, India. The status is colossal one and is 182 meters high. It is world’s highest statue representing the characteristics of Mr. Patel. He was one of the activists of Indian Independence movement, and was deeply moved with the thoughts f Mahatma Gandhi. He played a significant role in the uniting of princely states to form undivided India. The statue is located in the Kevadia colony on Narmada River, facing the Sardar Sarovam dam. It is situated in the south east direction of the city of Varodara and Surat.

History and Construction

The project of Status of Unity was first announced in 2013 by then Chief Minister of Gujrat and current Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi at a press conference and the project was named as “Gujarat’s Tribute to the Nation”.

He commenced the project on the onset of his 10th year as chief minister of Gujrat. A separate committee named as Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Rashtriya Ekta Trust was formed to execute this project under the chairmanship of Chief Minister of Gujrat.

One of the special features of project includes the making of foundation of statue with the donated iron from the farmers. Special drive was conducted wherein farmers donated their used farming equipment’s and iron from the same was used to lay the foundation of the statue in October 2014 by Larsen and Turbro.

Local tribes along with local people opposed the construction, due to the land acquisition for the structure to be formed. They were provided with compensation and almost all of their demands were fulfilled too.

The project was completed within 57 months with the appointment of over 250 Engineers and 3000 workers. The statue was made with 210000 cubic meters of concrete and cement; 18500 tonnes of reinforced steel; 5600 tonnes of structured steel; 1850 tonnes of Bronze cladding and 1700 tonnes of Bronze plates.

The maximum funding for the project was done by Gujrat Government along with the contribution of Public sector undertakings. With the construction cost of Rs.2989 crore, the project was inaugurated on 31st October 2018, the 143rd birth date of Vallabhbhai Patel by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Designing and Features

The statue was designed by Ram V. Sutar, an Indian sculptor and is a larger replication of statue of Vallabhbhai Patel situated at airport of Ahmedabad. As per the statue, Iron man of India stands straight; with dhoti clad legs and sandels and a shawl on shoulders.

The status is 182 meters high with a base of 58 meters, thus, making the height of whole structure 240 meters. 182 meters was chosen to resemble seats in legislative assembly of Gujrat.

The statue is built in such a way that it can tolerate wind speed of 180 km/hour; earthquake with 10km depth and within the radius of 12 km.

 The statue is world’s tallest and can be seen within a radius of 7 km. The surroundings occupy around 2 hectares of land; surrounded by a long artificial lake f 12 km.

The structure is divided into 5 parts but only 3 parts are accessed by public. The first level consists of roof, attic, exhibition area, museum and a garden. From Patel’s Shines to thighs, is the second level, and the third level is up to 153 meters. The fourth and fifth level is not open for general public and includes maintenance area.

In its operational year, around 29 lakh visitors came at this national heritage and it grabbed an income of Rs.82 crores from the tickets.

Within 11 days of its opening, it attracts over 128000 visitors and it outpaced the world famous Statue of Liberty in terms of daily visitors. The statue of Unity is one of the tributes to the Iron man of our country and his dedication and sacrifices

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