Statue of Unity-The hindu-01-11-2022

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HISTORY
CONTEXT :
BACKGROUND :
Prime Minister has inaugurated the Statue of Unity at Kevadiya in Narmada district of Gujarat.

The Statue of Unity which is built in honour of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel is dedicated to the nation.
Sardar Patel is credited with uniting over 560 princely states in pre-independent India to build the Republic of India, hence the name of the statue is christened as ‘Statue of Unity’.
The date for the inauguration of the statue (October 31, 2018) also marks the 143rd birth anniversary of Sardar Patel.
It is located on the Sadhu Bet island on the Narmada river, which flows between the Satpura and the Vindhya mountain ranges.
Salient features of the world’s ‘tallest statue
Height: 182 metres. This makes the statue almost twice the height of the iconic Statue of Liberty in New York.
Location: Around 3.5 km downstream from the Sardar Sarovar Dam, on islet Sadhu Bet on the bed of the river Narmada.
Cost: ₹2,989 crore (approx.)
Sculptor: Padma Bhushan Ram V. Suthar, a 93-year-old acclaimed sculptor who graduated from the prestigious J.J School of Art in Bombay.
Construction period: 34 months. Work began on December 19, 2015.
Materials consumed: 70,000 tonnes of cement, 18,500 tonnes of reinforcement steel, 6,000 tonnes of structural steel and 1,700 metric tonnes of bronze, which was used for the outer cladding of the structure, according to a government statement.
Specialities: The statue is slender most at the base, which goes against the norms of what other tall statues have followed. The walking pose also opened up a gap of 6.4 metres between the two feet which then had to be tested to withstand wind velocity, says L&T.
Engineered to withstand wind speeds of up to 50 m per second (almost 180 km per hour wind speed)
The viewing gallery at the height of 135 metres can accommodate up to 200 people at a time.