Patel Statue of Unity-Tallest Statue of the World

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the giant state of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, “The Statue of Unity” on 31 October, 2018 in the Kevadiya village of Gujarat.

The statue of Unity is 182 metres, the tallest statue of the world. The construction of the statue had begun on 31 October, 2014, and was also inaugurated on the same day after four years. Infact, Narendra Modi laid the foundation stop in 2013 when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat.

Lets study all about this Statue of Liberty.

Ironman of India-Sardar Patel

Sardar Patel was a leader who is famously known as “Iron Man of India” and played an important role in the freedom struggle of India. He was committed to the welfare of farmers, and was responsible to the merging of 550 princely states into the union of India.

Patel is also known as the “Architect of independent India” as his efforts helped in building united India. When the British left India, there  were 565 princely states which had an option to remain with India, Pakistan or independent.

The task of integrating each of the princely state to the Dominion of India fell on the shoulders of Sardar Patel who was the first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of India. He was able to make this impossible task as possible my merging the 565 princely states with India

Rashtriya Ekta Divas

Sardar Patel was born on 31 October, and every year the day is celebrated as ‘Rashtriya Ekta Divas’

On the 143th birth anniversary of Patel, the Prime Minister inaugurated the statue in the presence of leaders including Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, BJP Chief Amit Shah and Governer O.P Kohli. Vallabhbhai Patel was the first Deputy Prime Minister of India. It was a long standing dream of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to pay tribute to Sardar Patel in the form a statue that could witness the contribution of this great leader to the World.

Characteristics of “Statue of Unity”

The operations started in the year 2013 with exhaustive surveys of the land, river bed, river and wind factors to make the foundations of the statue strong and make it stand erect and strong in future. It was followed by a critically engineering design. There were a lot of challenges as the statue was being constructed at a far remote end.

The Loha Campaign also started with a view of donating used tools or implements by the farmers of the country. This iron formed the steel rebar in  the raft foundation. A lot of engineering designs and critical decisions were made to make the best and the tallest statue of the World that could withstand all the adversities of nature and forth coming generations could witness this epochal construction.

The total height of the statue is 182 meters which makes it the tallest of all the statues in the world so far. The height of the base on which the statue is standing is “58 metres”, thereby, making the total height including base to be equal to “240 metres”. The Statue of Unity is built facing the Narmada Dam at a distance of 3.2 kilometres on the river island called “Sadhu Bet”.

The material used in the construction of the statue are bronze, RCC(reinforced cement concrete) and steel framing. Patel is shown wearing his famous characteristic dress in a walking stance in the statue.

The best part is that Sardar Patel is shown in a walking stance in the statue. Dhoti of Sardar Patel in the statue needed to end above the ankle. Since he is shown in a walking stance so you can see the feet not parallelly aligned.

Other tall statues of the World

1. Spring Temple Buddha, China- Height: 153 M
2. Ushiku Daibutsu, Japan- Height: 120 M
3. Statue of Liberty, USA- Height: 93 M
4. The Motherland Calls, Russia- Height: 85 M
5. Christ The Redeemer, Brazil – Height: 38 M

Vallabhbhai Patel was born on 31 October 1875  and died on 15 December 1950

Pic credit: livemint.com