Gandhinagar, Oct 28 (Deccan Herald) : Building the statue of Sardar Patel was one of his pet projects as chief minister of Gujarat and when Narendra Modi took charge as Prime Minister he ensured that Rs 200 crore was allocated from the Union Budget for the “Statue of Unity”.
Now, Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel has followed up the dream project of her mentor and on Monday, a work order amounting to Rs 2,989 crore was awarded to construction giant Larsen and Toubro with the hope that the statue would be completed in four years. The statue as visualised by Modi is touted to be one of the tallest in the world at a height of 182 metres.
“The construction work will be completed in four years at a cost of Rs 2,989 crore,’’ said Patel while making a formal announcement on Monday. She said that the project would restores the pride of the “Iron Man of India”.
“The project would involve not only of having the tallest statue, but underwater fish aquarium, agriculture development, water management centre and a museum dedicated to Sardar Patel,’’ said Patel.
Modi, prior to the general elections this year, had performed the ground breaking ceremony and announced that the iron used for the construction of this statue would be collected from farmers from different parts of the country.
“Leaders of different ranks from the BJP did go to several parts of the country and collected iron tools from farmers, but it reaped double harvest for Modi who not only collected iron but his party ensured an indirect campaign on his behalf,’’ said columnist R K Mishra.