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 garage 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".

Comments:
sensible blog.
you said it.
 
Nicely written Sunny. This is Modi's and BJP's cheap attempt to lay claim to the legacy of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. In this slugfest to appropriate the legacy of this great son of the soil who really united India, the Congress and the BJP is forgetting the people of this country as you rightly pointed out.
 
The Government only concentrates on building statues and puts all its efforts to break statutes.
 
The Government only concentrates on building statues and puts all its efforts to break statutes.
 
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