BHUBANESWAR: The Gujarat Government on Monday extended formal invitation to Governor Ganeshi Lal and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for inauguration of the world’s tallest statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel at Ahmedabad on October 31.A team led by Gujarat Labour and Employment Minister Dilip Kumar Thakor met the Governor and the Chief Minister and requested them to attend the unveiling of the ‘Statue of Unity’ by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Gujarat Minister accompanied by party MP Ramsinh Rathava, State legislator Bharatsinh Dabhi and a couple of Gujarat cadre Odia bureaucrats told reporters here that iron used for the foundation of the statue was collected from across the country.
After completion, the statue will generate approximately 15,000 direct jobs for tribal people every year, he said.
The Minister said the `29.9 billion ‘Statue of Unity’, one of the tallest statues in the world, overlooking Sardar Sarovar Dam as a pet project of the Prime Minister and it will attract ‘hordes’ of tourists in the same way as the Statue of Liberty does. Seen as a symbol of the country’s unity and integrity, the 182 metre high (600 ft) ‘Statue of Unity’ will be twice the size of New York’s Statue of Liberty, Thakor said.