Fly to Cities

Statue of Unity – Height

The Statue of Unity is 182 meters or 597 feet tall. It is 240 meters or 790 feet tall when the base is included. For an average Indian with the height of 5 feet 5 inches, the Statue of Unity stands 100 times bigger than her.

How tall is Statue of Unity in comparison with Statue of Liberty and the second tallest statue in the world?

When you compare it with Statue of Liberty, the Statue of Unity is double its height.  The second  tallest statue in the world is the 153 meters tall Spring Temple Buddha in China.

 Information on Statue of Unity

The Statue of Unity is a huge statue of Bharat Ratna and the first deputy Prime Minister of India, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. As of November 2018, it is the tallest statue in the world. Sardar Patel was a freedom fighter and one of the founding fathers of the Indian Republic. He is fondly known as the ‘Iron Man of India’ for his strong will and determination in successfully unifying all the princely states and provinces located in the subcontinent into one single unified country.

Origins

The plan to construct the tallest statue of Sardar Patel was first publicized on 7^th Oct 2010. The government of Gujarat established a special purpose vehicle named Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Rashtriya Ekta Trust or SVPRET for constructing the monument. Iron that was supposed to be used in construction of the statue was received as donations from farmers around the country who used farming tools. This drive to collect iron was christened as ‘Statue of Unity’ drive/movement.

More than 4,900 tons of Iron was collected from all over India. But this iron was not used for the construction of the statue as initially publicized and was instead used in some other areas of the project.

Statue of Unity – Architect and Designer

The designer of the statue is well-known Indian sculptor Ram V. Sutar while the architect is Joseph Menna.

Statue of Unity – Cost and Completion Period

Larsen & Toubro made the lowest bid for construction of the statue at INR 2,989 crores and the tender was subsequently give to L&T in Oct 2014. The company would be responsible for designing, constructing, and maintaining the statue.

INR 1347 crores was set for the main Patel statue, INR 83 crores was set constructing the bridge on the lake connecting the statue to the main land, INR 25 crores was for the convention center and exhibition hall and, INR 657 crores was  awarded to L&T for maintenance of the monument for 15 years after the statue was constructed.

Commendably, the Statue of Unity was completed in a record period of just 33 months while  Spring Temple Buddha of China took 11 years to be built.

Narendra Modi, as Chief Minister of Gujarat, laid the foundation stone on 31^st Oct 2013, the birth anniversary of Sardar Patel. The construction began on 31^st Oct 2014 and finished in mid-October 2018. Narendra Modi, as Prime Minister of India, inaugurated the Statue of Unity on 31^st Oct 2018.

The monument was constructed on a Public Private Partnership model. A majority of the funds was raised by the Gujarat government. INR 2 billion was allotted by the state government for the project in its 2012-13 budget. The central government allotted INR 2 billion in its 2014-15 budget for the project.

The monument was opened for visitors and tourists on 1^st November 2018.

Statue of Unity – Construction

• The statue is built with reinforced cement concrete, steel framing, and bronze sheet cladding. During construction of the statue, 5,700 tons of steel frame structure, 75,000 cubic meters of cement concrete, 22,500 tons of China-imported bronze sheets, and 18,500 tons of reinforced steel bars/rods were used.
• The statue’s design shows Sardar Patel in a walking pose and wearing traditional sandals, dhoti, and short kurta, and shawl.
• A lift that operates at 4 m/s is installed inside the statue. Tourists can take the lift and go to the viewers gallery located at around 135 meters above ground. The gallery provides views of the scenic landscape, the Satpura hill range, and the Narmada River and Narmada dam.
• The exhibition hall and a museum are also constructed within the statue. It showcases different aspects of Sardar Patel’s life and works.
• The Sardar Patel statue complex also includes a shopping center, a research center and a 3-star hotel.
• Sreshtha Bharat Bhavan, a guest house, has been built by the tourism department. Visitors can stay at this place.
• Two tent cities have also been constructed near the dam alongside 2 lakes and spread across 70,000 square meters. The tents have all the modern facilities and run on green energy. Tourists can use them and enjoy a camping experience.
• A Valley of Flowers project spread across 17 kilometers along the river bank near the monument is in the stage of development. The project will consist of nature trails for hiking and walking tours.

Best views from Statue of Unity

There are two high-speed elevators in the core of the statue that take you right to the chest level of the statue, to a viewing gallery from where you can take picturesque photos.  From here, you can check out the beautiful visuals of Narmada River, the beautiful landscape, the dam and its hilly surroundings consisting of Vindhyachal and Satpura range of hills.

An estimated 200 people can stand at any point of time on the platform close to the bust of the statue. For people who like to click photos and selfies, they can go to a separate selfie point, from where you can get a good angle of the statue as well as the surrounding area. In the evenings,  visitors can enjoy a laser-light and audio show, with its theme based on the unification of India, post 1947.

How to reach Statue of Unity

The Statue of Unity is 200 kilometers away from Ahmedabad.  Kevadia, at 3.5 kilometers from the location, is the nearest town to the Sardar Vallabhai Patel statue. This town is having a highway constructed to reach the venue.  The ride is enjoyable with natural greenery and growth of flowers along the road. There is a bridge to get to the statue from the mainland, so one has to take a boat-ride to reach the Sadhu Bet Island.

From Vadodara, it is 90 kilometers apart. For those in Mumbai, they can take a road trip along the NH48 and 63 State Highway, a traversing a 430 kilometer distance.

 Statue of Unity – Location (Map)

The statue is located on Sadhu Bet, a river island, situated near the Narmada Dam in the state of Gujarat. The statue and its surroundings are spread across 20,000 square meters and are located in the middle of an artificial lake sized around 12 square kilometers. The nearest big city to the monument is the Vadodara at a distance of around 100 kilometers.

Statue of Unity – Ticket Prices and Online Booking

You can either book tickets online or at the spot.  Entry fee for an adult is INR 350 – this includes entry to the observation deck,  audio-visual gallery, the Sardar Patel memorial, the Sardar Sarovar dam, the valley of flowers and the Statue of Unity site. Tickets are free for children below the age of 3 for free.

For those who do not want to go to the observation deck, and see the statue from outside, the ticket price for Statue of Unity for an adult is Rs. 120. You do get entry to the Statue of Unity site, the valley of flowers, the audio-visual gallery, the Sardar Patel memorial and the Sardar Sarovar dam. For children below 15, the ticket entry is Rs. 60.

You can buy tickets from the location, as mentioned before and also from the Shreshta Bharat Bhavan complex, nearby. For booking tickets to Statue of Unity online, you have to go to soutickets.in

 Timings

  The Sardar Vallabhai Patel is open to tourists from 9 AM to 6 PM every day of the week.

Statue of Unity – Images (HD)