Hiten Shukla
– Foundation Stone to the laid for 4 new Projects
On the eve of 145th Birth Anniversary of SardarVallabhbhai
Patel, Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will be dedicating
17 projects of Integrated Development of Kevadia, which are all
developed in a record time during 2019 under his visionary guidance
and inspiration. After dedicating the world’s tallest Statue of Unity to
the nation on 31st October, 2018, Hon’ble Prime Minister had
inspired to take up a number of theme based projects of Integrated
Development of Kevadia and completion of these projects in a
record time has transformed Kevadia into a world class tourist
destination, where entire family with members of all age groups can
find interesting attractions to visit and enjoy.
After arriving at Kevadia in the afternoon of 30th October, 2020,
he will be visiting and inaugurating the fastest ever made Jungle
Safari, Ekta Mall which is a symbol of unity in handloom and
handicrafts diversity, the world’s first technology driven Children
Nutrition Park, India’s first Unity Glow Garden and Cactus Garden.
Before boarding the Ekta Cruise from Jetty near Statue of Unity for
a 40 minutes ride to Jetty at Shreshtha Bharat Bhavan, Hon’ble
Prime Minister will also be unveiling plaques of inauguration of
Jetties and Boating, Navigation Channel, new High Level Gora
Bridge, Garudeshwar Weir, Ekta Nursery, Khalwani Ecotourism,
Government Quarters,Bus Bay Terminus and Home Stay. The
plaques for four new projects namely Administrative Building for the
newly constituted SOU Area Development and Tourism Governance
Authority, Government Quarters, SRP Quarters and Adarsh Gam –
a colony of 400 houses with all basic amenities for the affected
people of five surrounding villages. Hon’ble Prime Minister will also
launch the Home Stay Project under which 50 tribal homes have
been refurbished to enable the tribal families to give it on rental basis
to the tourists and generate income. Kevadia has now become a
land of billion lights. Hon’ble Prime Minister will also be inaugurating
the decorative lighting of international standard developed in about
25 Sq.Km area, a specially designed and installed decorative lighting for Sardar Sarovar Dam, the Statue of Unity website in UN
languages and Kevadia Mobile App developed for the tourists.
On the next day, i.e. 31st October, 2020 before presiding over
the function to celebrate Rashtriya Ekta Divas,Hon’ble Prime
Minister will visit and inaugurate Arogya Van a unique garden to
achieve the much needed balance between Human Body and Soul.
Finally, he will be departing by the first ever Sea Plane Service from
Kevadia to Ahmedabad, which will also mark the inauguration of
newly constructed Water Drome near Pond No.3.
It is worth noting here that all these tourist attractions
completed in a mission mode have received overwhelming response
from tourists and have also generated employment opportunities for
local youths and women benefitting more than 3,000 families. In
terms of indirect benefits of Integrated Development of Kevadia, this
predominantly tribal region in about 100 Km radius from the Statue
of Unity is going to be immensely benefitted, which is estimate to be
to the tune of Rs. 9,000 Cr. during 2020-2022.
Salient features of the projects to be inaugurated and the projects
for which the foundation stone will be laid are as under :-
Jungle Safari : ( Sardar Patel Zoological Park )
A state of the art Zoological Park spread across 375 acres of
7 different levels altitude housing more than 1100 indigenous and
exotic birds and animals of more than 100 species, constructed &
put in operation, fastest ever in the World. It comprises of 29 different
enclosures and 2 nos. of world’s largest geodesic dome aviaries.
Jungle Safari also has a Petting Zone to provide tourist for unique
touch, feel and exhilarating experience of cuddling favourite animals
including exotic species like Macaw, Cockatoo, Persian Cat,
Rabbits, Guinea Pig, Miniature Pony, Miniature Sheep, Miniature
Goat, Turkey and Geese.
Ekta Mall :
Ekta Mall is developed on the theme of “Unity in Handicraft &
Handloom Diversity.” Tourists get unique experience of shopping,
while visiting to Kevadia. A two storied air conditioned Mall with
35,000 Sq.ft. built up area houses 20 different emporia representing
the handloom and handicraft traditions of various states including
Garvi Gurjari, Purbashree, Kairali, Mrugnayani, Pumpuhar,
Gangotri, Kaveri, Kashmir Govt. Arts Emporium and also shops of
CCI Emporium, Khadi India, Coir Board etc.
Children Nutrition Park :
World’s first technology driven CNP is a unique theme park
developed in 35,000 Sq.Mt. area. A 600 Mtr long track of Nutri Train
takes the kids to various stations like Falsakhagriham, Payonagri,
Annapurna, Poshanpuram, Swathbharatam, Nutrihunt, which
provides technology rich attractions which provides 47 different
technogy driven attractions providing infotainment to the children
with the underlined theme of “Sahi Poshan Desh Roshan”. India’s
biggest Mirror Maize besides being fun place for children and elders,
also contains a “Bhool Bhuliaya” theatre showcasing a 5-D movie
named “BharatiyaThali” – unity in food diversity.
Unity Glow Garden :
Unity Glow Garden, the first of its kind in India has been
developed in 3.61 acres with a glimmering array of installations,
figures and optical illusions. This unique garden, specially
developed for promoting night tourism at Kevadia has 331 nos. of
Decorative Lighting elements with 2.41 lakh LEDs, 31 nos. of
glorious glowing animals like Deer, Horse, Giraffe, Flamingos, Swan,
Rabbit etc.), 125 glowing flowers and 35 trees. Glow Garden also
offers an enjoyable experience of 4 nos. of artificial 3 D fountains
and about 51 interactive lighting elements.
Cactus Garden :
This unique garden spread in 25 acres is a home to more than
450 species of Cacti and Succulents, with a total of 6 lakh plants
representing 17 countries around the globe. A marvellous grand
octagonal domewith an area of 836 sq.mt. is a special attraction for
the tourists. It hosts some of the rare and endangered Cacti and
Succulents. Here tourist can also purchase cactus and herbal
products in a specially developed shop.
Ekta Nursery :
Ekta Nursery has been developed in 10 acres of area for
shaping the idea of unity through saplings. This high tech nursery
with a capacity of raising one million saplings every year also has
Ekta Handicrafts, a demonstration-cum-sale unit with live making of
bamboo crafts, areca leaves utensils and organic pots, Bonsai
making, hydroponics, apiary, ethnic tribal culture, , souvenir shops,
cafeteria serving tribal delicacies, orchidarium, soap making unit etc.
are unique attractions of this Ekta Nursery. Most of the activities
here are run by self-help group of women, benefiting 311 families.
Khalwani Eco-tourism :
An eco-friendly tourism site spread in 100 acres with plantation
area of 82 acres with more than 1.3 lakh trees planted. Tourist has
accommodation facilities like Tree House, tents etc for about 100
tourists. Here, all activities are carried out in harmony with nature
and are run by local self-help groups. Cafeteria provides unique test
of Tribal foods. Tourists can also enjoy river rafting in 4.5 Km. stretch
of river comprising 9 rapids on the route.
Arogya Van :
Arogya Van is spread over an area of about 17 acres
displaying wide range of medicinal plants which plays an important
role in the well-being of humans. and health. It also emphasises on
importance of Yoga, Ayurveda and Meditation. 5 lakh plants of 380
selected species have been grown here. Arogya Van comprises of
lotus pond, garden of colours, alba garden, lutea garden, aroma
garden, yoga and meditation garden, indoor plant section, digital
information centre, souvenir shop, cafeteria serving Ayurveda foods
and ubiquitous setup of tribal music
Jetties & Ekta Cruise :
Ekta Cruise – a ferry boat service cover a distance of 6 Kms
from Shrestha Bharat Bhavan to Statue of Unity within 40 minutes.
The vessel is 26 m. in length and 9 m. width with passenger capacity
of 200 persons. To facilitate this, two Jetties are constructed, one at
Statue of Unity & another at Shreshth Bharat Bhavan.
Navigation Channel :
A 60 meters wide and 2.5 meters deep channel of about 7 km
length has been constructed in river Narmada to facilitate boating to
and from between Jetties at Shreshtha Bharat Bhavan and Statue of
Unity. Around 5 lakh cubic meters of hard rock excavation has been
carried out to construct this channel.
Garudeshwar Weir :
Garudeshwar weir is constructed for creation of tail pond for
the operation of reversible turbine of River Bed Power House of
Sardar Sarovar Dam. It is located 12.10 km downstream of Sardar
Sarovar Dam near village Garudeshwar. Storage capacity of weir is
87.20 MCM .Total length of the concrete weir is 1218 m with spillway
of 609 m, Non-Overflow and Key blocks of 609 m.The weir has
power block (Non Overflow Block No. 4) having total generation
capacity of 9.0 MW (2×4.5 MW).
New Gora Bridge :
Due to construction of Garudeshwar weir, old Gora Bridge got
submerged, new bridge is constructed. The length of Main Bridge is
920 m. with approaches of 1.60 km. It is a 4 lane bridge with height
of 36.57m. from river bed. New Gora Bridge is located 6.30 km
downstream of Sardar Sarovar Dam. This bridge connects Kevadia
to Rajpipala Road
Government Quarters
To provide residential facilities to staff / Engineers, 112 Flats are
constructed, which include different categories. All amenities are
provided in this residential project.
Bus Bay Terminus:
A Spacious Bus terminus is constructed for tourist to drop in/drop
off . The Bus Bay Terminus consists of 10 Sub- Bus Stands having
capacity of 20m x 8m
Total capacity of Bus stand is more than 1500 passenger at a time.
For queue management, total 1200 Rmt of stainless steel is
provided. Locker room provided inside bus stand having 600 nos of
lockers.
Home Stay :
Home Stay is a unique scheme of developing “paying guest”
accommodation in tribal homes in the village. The tourist visiting
Kevadia has an alternative for stay in Home Stay project. The Home
Stay projects cover 52 rooms in 32 buildings of 11 villages
surrounding Statue of Unity. The tourists can live with tribal family so
that they can have experience of tribal culture, with surrounding
nature. This project helps tribal families for uplifting their socio-
economic conditions. The tourist normally living a city life can enjoy
peace and calm of the village culture.
Adarsh Gam :
This is a scheme of developing an ideal village with 400 houses for
the resettlement of affected people from the five villages around
Statue of Unity. In Adarsh Gam Village, people will get Pucca House
and there is also a provision of basic amenities like primary school, Anganwadi, Dispensary, Cattle pond, Children’s play area, Community Hall etc.
