PM TO UNVEIL PATEL STATUE
23, Oct 2018
Prelims level : Miscellaneous
Mains level :
Why in News?
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to unveil Sardar Patel’s statue, the world’s largest, on his birth anniversary on October 31.
About the News:
- Final touches are being given to the Statue of Unity, as it is called, built by engineering and infrastructure major L&T on the river Narmada in South Gujarat. The world’s highest 182-metre statue will get flypast from the Indian Air Force team of Surya Kiran that will display Tricolour in sky when PM will switch on the button to inaugurate the statue.
- The statue has been under construction for nearly four years.
- The Statue of Unity, which is twice the size of the Statue of Liberty, has been built in a remote corner of Gujarat as a flagship project of Modi who is to open it on 31st October.
- The Rs. 3,000 crore projects are funded for the most part by the Gujarat government, with minor contributions from the Centre and Central PSUs.
- This is a tribute to Sardar Patel, who united the country after Independence. It’s a tribute by the nation and the State he was born in.
- The statue is made up of 1,700 tonnes of bronze, 1,850 tonnes of bronze cladding, 70,000 metric tonnes of cement and 24,500 metric tonnes of steel.
- Two high speed elevators inside can take tourists up to the statue’s chest from where around 200 visitors can view the Narmada river and the Sardar Sarovar dam over it.