World’s tallest statue planned near Narmada dam, a report

According to the Times of India report dated 11 August 2010, Gujarat Chief minister Narendra Modi is learnt to have approved a proposal, floated by Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd (SSNNL) Chairman D Rajagopalan, to construct the world’s tallest 180 metres statue, of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, in the Narmada river, near the Narmada dam.

The statue, according to TOI report will be 40 metres higher than the dam’s full reservoir level, 138.64 metres, and eight metres taller than the earth’s highest statue of Crazy Horse Memorial sculpture being carved in Mount Rushmore, South Dakota, a state in north central US.

Ahmedabad based Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology(CEPT) University will carry out a detailed study of the topography of the river and report if such a huge structure can be installed there. It has to have a very wide base and would have to be connected with a bridge so that tourists could reach up to the statue, said an official. “According to the presentation, there would have to be a lift that will carry tourists right to the top in order to see the dam from afar, according to report.