From: [email protected]
To:
http://www.sunnyfernandes.blogspot.in/2013/11/statue-of-unity.html
Tuesday, November 12, 2013 Statue of Unity
A Statue of unity to be constructed in a disunited country like India was the
best satire to the state of affairs in India. The Statue of Sardar Patel will
be double the height of the Statue of Liberty in the USA and five times taller
than the Statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The
construction is estimated to cost USD 324,014,686/-, and will be completed in
four years.
Such a huge amount of money spent for a statue?? Could this not be put to
better use on basic amenities such as infrastructure or sanitation where we are
the worst amongst developing countries? Could this not be spent on education
for children in the region where this statue will be erected? These kids would
have had an opportunity to a quality education, and these children who are our
future would help in uniting India better, than a statue standing looking at
India getting fragmented on lines of religion, cast, creed and region.
The proposed 182-meter tall Sardar Patel's statue will be erected on a small
rocky island in the middle of the Narmada riverbed facing Sardar Sarovar Dam at
Kevadia. The statue will have steel framing, reinforced cement concrete, and
bronze coating. A statue on a rocky island in the middle of river, when bridges
could have been built across many rivers in India that could have united many
villages or states and reduced time in travel. A pedestrian bridge built during
common wealth games in 2010 held in India collapses. When we can’t build a
simple pedestrian bridge, and shame ourselves in front of the world at a
sporting event, what unity are we trying to prove with a statue?
Visitors will be able to rise up to the height of the structure’s head, walk
into a viewing gallery and enjoy a panoramic view of the Sardar Sarovar Nigam
project from an astounding height of close to 400ft. Wish some sense could be
driven into the heads of our politicians who are unfortunately way above 400ft
from the reality facing India. Any height of a monument will not cover the ugly
mess of affairs any state in India is. Even if it does once you walk out of the
monumental area, one is hit in the face with garbage littered streets,
overflowing sewers, ghettos and poverty.
The observation deck at 500ft can accommodate 200 people at a time. Wouldn’t it
have been better if we could have transportation or housing that could
accommodate people? Public transportation in India, does carry much more than
that volume of people, the only difference is people are transported worse than
garbage. Accommodation in India is worse, where if the average man has a roof
over his head, there would be more than the no. of people that can be
accommodated in a basic, decent living space. The homeless and the destitute
living in ghettos the situation is sad. The irony is at the same time we have
one family that has the most expensive home in the world, with 600 staff to
cater to a family of six members.
Why is India competing in building monumental structures? What are we trying to
prove? Can we not compete in Infrastructure, public transportation, health
care, education, sanitation, law and order, drinking water, access to clean
food or for that matter simple clean air, or would we have to climb monuments
in India to even breathe clean air? Talking about monuments the best monument
that comes to mind when one thinks of India, is the Taj Mahal, where the
artisans who crafted the monument, their hands were chopped off, so another Taj
Mahal could never be built. Proudly we boast it to be a monument of love.
Similarly India today is bloodied with riots, rapes, murders, communal
violence, corruption, states being fragmented to make new states, but we would
be proud to say "We have a statue of unity".
