PM Modi to unveil Sardar Patel's Statue of Unity today

By FnF Correspondent | PUBLISHED: 31, Oct 2018, 8:26 am IST | UPDATED: 03, Nov 2018, 13:17 pm IST

New Delhi: As a tribute to freedom movement icon Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on his 143rd birth anniversary today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will unveil the 'Statue of Unity', which at 182 metres is the tallest statue in the world. The Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel statue, twice as tall as the Statue of Liberty, has been built at a cost of Rs. 2,389 crore and is located 3.2 km downstream of the Narmada dam in Gujarat.

PM Modi will pour soil and Narmada water into a 'kalash' or urn, a statement from the Prime Minister's Office said. PM Modi had laid the foundation stone for the project five years ago, on October 31, 2013, when he was the chief minister of Gujarat.

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.

The Statue of Unity will stand 177 feet higher than the current world's tallest statue, China's Spring Temple Buddha in the central Henan province.

The panels were cast in a foundry in China as part of the international bidding process since there was no such facility in India that could make panels of that size, officials said.

The 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.