The Statue of Unity is a colossal statue of Indian statesman and independence activist Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (1875–1950), who was the first Deputy Prime Minister and Home minister of independent India and the chief adherent of Mahatma Gandhi during the non-violent Indian Independence movement
STATUE OF UNITY CONCEPT
How did the concept of the tallest statue in the world come about ? Who was behind this idea ?
The statue of Unity is India´s greatest tribute to the architect of United India
- Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel fought for the freedom of the country and accomplished the dream of an united India
- He was respinsible for integrating more than 550 princely states into India immediately after independence of India from British in 1947
- He was the first man to dream about a dam on Narmada
- The current Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to pay grand tribute to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat between 2002 – 2014
- The statue of Unity – India´s greatest tribute to the architect of United India
- The idea was to amaze the world and this thought became the foundation stone for establishing the tallest statue in the world
STATUE OF UNITY : PROJECT START
When did the Statue of Unity project start ?
2013 October 31 – On the occasion of birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
31 October 2013 – 138th birthday of Sardar – Narendra Modi laid the the foundation stone for the statue speaking on this occasion highlighting the Unity in diversity of India – he said
This is the statue of Unity. And the message of Unity is
- Many languages – One feeling
- Many states – One Nation
- Many generations – One goal
- Many dialects – One Voice
- Many colours – One flag
- Many communities – One India
- Many cultures – One value
- Many schemes – One mission
- Many tasks – One pledge
- Many paths – One destination
- Many costumes – One talent
- Many faces – One smile
- We must follow this message of Unity.
- India is known for its Unity in Diversity !
With this commences the building of Statue of Unity
STATUE OF UNITY
PAN INDIA PEOPLE OUTREACH ACTIVITIES
What were the various outreach activities ?
- 2013 October 31 – On the occasion of birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
- Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Rashtriya Ekta Trust was formed for the people of India to connect with the statue to take the message throughout India
- Swaraj abhiyan campaign saw 20 million people expressing their thoughts of good governance and signing a petition for it
- This became the world´s largest campaign
- An iron campaign also kickstarted for building the statue of iron man – and farmers throughout the country associated with it
- In 3 months 5 lakh farmers donated more than 5 metric tomnnes of iron that was later melted into iron rebars and used in the basement of the statue – a right tribute to the iron man of India !
- Thousdands of teams have collected soil from farmers across the country
- Run for Unity Marathon was organized on the 15th of December 2013 (the death anniversary of Sardar) – lakhs of people ran to give tributr to Sardar
An iron campaign also kickstarted for building the statue of iron man – and farmers throughout the country associated with it
In 3 months 5 lakh farmers donated more than 5000 metric tonnes of iron that was later melted into iron rebars and used in the basement of the statue –
A right tribute to the iron man of India !
Thousdands of teams have collected soil from farmers across the country
STATUE OF UNITY LOCATION : SADHU BET 3.5 KM FROM SARDAR SAROVAR DAM
How was the location chosen ? Why was this location chosen ?
There were many reasons for choosing this place
- Firstly – Narmada river is known to be the lifeline of Gujarat because it provides water to more than 10000+ villages, 150+towns and 40+ million population
- Secondly – Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was the first man to dream about a dam on Narmada. It was Sardar´s dream to construct a dam here
- Thirdly – it will help develop the tribal regions of Gujarat
STATUE OF UNITY PROJECT COMMENCEMENT OF OPERATIONS
- Operations commenced in 2013 with exhaustive surveys of land riverbed, river and wind
- This was followed by critical engineering & design – 13 months design time
- Challenge was remote location – planning & logistics
STATUE OF UNITY PROJECT DESIGN CHALLENGES
CHALLENGES IN THE DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION OF THE STATUE
- Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel´s dhoti ends above the ankle
- He is in a walking stance – thus the feet were not parallelly aligned
- His assertive stride meant a gap between the feet and very challenging for such an enormous height
- Most of the statues in the world are wider at the base and tapering at the top but this statue was opposite with slender legs with space between them
STATUE OF UNITY PROJECT SARDAR PATEL´s FACE EXPRESSION EVOLUTION
EVOLUTION OF EXACT FACE OF SARDAR VALLABHBHAI PATEL TO A LINE
STATUE OF UNITY PROJECT STEEL & CONCRETE BASE
- Iron from LOHA CAMPAIGN rebar in the raft foundation – a homage to the iron man of India
- A reinbforced concrete core created with critical concreting methods gave the structure astable base
- This would support the primary and secondary steel strussing
- The bronze plates then covered the entire structure forming the sculpture
STATUE OF UNITY PROJECT BRONZE CLADDING
The effect of this statue should be similar to his personality – so with this in mind it was decided to put bronze cladding on the statue by increasing its grandeur
STATUE OF UNITY : MATERIALS USED
STATUE OF UNITY : MACRO PANEL ASSEMBLY ON SITE
STATUE OF UNITY : RFID TAGS USED FOR TAGGING
- RFID tags used
- 1700 tonnes Bronze cladding
- 33 months construction time
- Every Plate was unique and was RFID tagged and bolted in its place
- As work progressed at blazing speed the engineer work transformed and statue began to take shape
STATUE OF UNITY : STABILITY ACHIEVED BY USING 2 X 200 TONNE TUNED MASS DAMPERS
STATUE OF UNITY : CONSTRUCTION PROGRESSION VIEWS
