NEW DELHI - A grandiose project to build the world's tallest statue was launched amid intense political controversy in India
on Thursday by Narendra Modi, the Hindu nationalist leader who is the leading
opposition candidate for prime minister in next year's general
elections.
The 182 metre high statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel,
who was India's first home minister after independence from Britain, is
to be built in Gujarat on a river island close to India's largest
irrigation dam, which is also named after Patel.
Narendra Modi, leader
of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) and the state's
chief minister, set up a trust to fund the £200m estimated cost of its
construction.
The statue – to be called the Statue of Unity – will
be made of reinforced concrete on a steel frame, and then clad with
"rich bronze".
Super-fast elevators will take visitors to the
observation deck inside the statue's head with a panoramic view of the
surrounding countryside, including the dam with its huge reservoir, and
dozens of poor villages. Below the statue will be a three-storey
visitors' centre housing a museum, an aquarium, and other tourist
attractions.
The trust funding the project says it will be finished in four years. "The world will be forced to look at India when this statue stands tall," Modi said.
Super-fast elevators will take visitors to the
observation deck inside the statue's head with a panoramic view of the
surrounding countryside, including the dam with its huge reservoir, and
dozens of poor villages. Below the statue will be a three-storey
visitors' centre housing a museum, an aquarium, and other tourist
attractions. The trust funding the project says it will be finished in four years. "The world will be forced to look at India when this statue stands tall," Modi said.
Source: The Guardians...More...
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