Page 29 - Seniors Today - April Issue

was then sent to various places where Sardar 3G or 4G connectivity on the location.”
Patel had been and kept there for public
viewing while people were asked to give
their suggestions and opinions. Meanwhile
design engineers worked on 3,000 selected
photographs of Sardar Patel and 3D wire
frames were created on computers at various
locations. This then led to the construction of
a 30-ft-tall sculpture made in bronze which
became the basis for the main installation
(this is now kept in Gandhinagar, Gujarat).
The artist’s son says in an interview, “The
expression, posture and pose justify the
dignity, confidence, iron will as well as
kindness his personality exudes – looks as if
he is ready to walk. This Design or stance was
used to give it a wider and more stable base
which is built to withstand winds up to 180
kms per hour and earthquakes measuring
6.5 on the Richter scale, which are at a depth
of 10 kms and within a radius of 12 kms of
the statue. This has been ensured by the use
of two 250 tonne tuned mass dampers for
maximum stability.”
Work was going on at various fronts; living
in Baroda, we had been hearing so much
about it. In 2013 a campaign was started to
collect iron scrap from farmers all over India
as a donation for the sculpture and 134 metric
tonnes was brought to the project site. Of this,
109 metric tonnes was used in the foundation
of the massive structure.
The planning of the project took 15 months
and the actual construction took about 46
months and was finished before schedule.
The construction contract was awarded
to L&T and they had around 5000 people
working on site while 1000 engineers
worked on structural details at company’s
different offices. In an interview, Mukesh
Raval, Project Director (L&T) said, “It was
really difficult co-ordinating everything
especially since most of the time there was no
SENIORS TODAY | ISSUE #22 | APRIL 2021
As we drove towards the site, the excitement
grew tremendously at the first hazy view of
the silhouette from some 5 kilometres away...
after all, we were going to see a modern
wonder of the world built in our backyard, if
we could put it that way. The first view was
breath-taking in its magnitude. The main
base structure has been made of 210,000
cubic metres of cement concrete and houses
an Exhibition Hall, Convention Centre,
Museum, and Theatre.
The theater within the foundation
The statue has been constructed of 85%
Copper and 5% each of Zinc, Lead and
Tin; 18500 metric tonnes of reinforcement
steel, 6000 metric tonnes of infrastructure
steel and 17,000 metric tonnes of bronze
cladding. The outer cladding is made up
of 6,500 bronze plates/tiles which were
outsourced from a foundry in China after the
3D moulding and casting. (China alone has
the expertise and professionalism in working
on such large-scale projects.) Each plate is
number tagged on the inside for easy remake
in case of any damage or breakage.
The total height of the structure is an awe
inspiring 240 metres (790 ft.) with a base
of 58 metres (190 ft.) and the statue itself
measures 182 metres (597 ft.) [This height
of 182 was decided because the Gujarat
Legislative Assembly has 182 seats.] The
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