Built from crowdsourced iron, Statue of Unity can withstand earthquakes but not rains?

New Delhi, July 03: The Statue of Unity in Gujarat has been in the news ever since its inauguration. However, ever since the recent monsoon rains hit Gujarat's Statue of Unity, some tourists have complained about rainwater seeping inside the visitors gallery.

It was reported that on June 29, the viewing gallery of the world's tallest statue, which reaches a height of 500 ft, was overflowing with rainwater, as puddles covered the floor and rain dripped off the roof. Despite the tremendous amount spent on its construction, it appears that the statue wasn't designed to endure something as expected as rain.

"We had come with great hope to see the world's tallest statue. But we are feeling bad looking at the statue in the rain. It has not rained heavily, and already the main hall and viewing gallery of the statue is filled with water. It is unfortunate," a visitor told news agency PTI.

Social media was immediately flooded with people criticising officials for not bothering to think about even something as natural as rain while designing it.

However, the Statue of Unity's official Twitter handle put out a statement saying that while high-velocity winds brought rainwater into the viewing gallery, this area had to be necessarily designed in this way to ensure a better view of the surrounding Sarovar dam for tourists. But turns out, the best view visitors probably got was of stagnating rainwater.

The Statue of Unity, a 182-metre memorial to Sardar Patel in Kevadiya in Narmada district, is the tallest structure of its kind in the world and was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 31, 2018.