Punjab News/Iron collected from 6.5 lakh farmers of country to be used in erecting Statue of Unity - Grewal

Mansa, November 17, 2013: Statue of Iron Man of India Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel will be installed at the Sardar Sarovar Dam in Gujarat which will be double the length of Statue of Liberty in America.

While addressing the media persons here today, BJP Kisan Morcha National Secretary Sukhminderpal Singh Grewal said that the statue will be a symbol of the immense contribution of Sardar Patel and his legendary persona. He said that Patel unified the 562 princely states of India after which the statue will be named as the Statue of Unity.

Grewal said that every household and every person in the state will be associated with this project which will be source of inspiration for the unified India and also for the generations to come. He said that this is a dream project of Gujarat Chief Minister and future Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi.

He said that BJP leaders and workers will collect iron from every household from all villages across the country.

Grewal said that keeping in view the stature of Sardar Patel the statue will be 182 m (600 ft) high which would be equal to a 60 storey building whereas the Statue of Liberty is 93 m high. He said that the way Statue of Liberty represents America the Statue of Unity will represent India. Grewal said that Sardar Patel was a farmers’ leader and the Bardoli Satygraha gave him the name of Sardar.

He said that the iron collected from 6.5 lakh farmers of the country will be used in erecting Statue of Unity. He said that the national level, state level and district level, Iron Collection Coordination Committees have been formed by Om Prakash Dhankar our National Chief to collect iron from the households of farmers. He said that these committees will include people from all the walks of life. He said that the committees will have complete record of the iron collected from different places.

Grewal said that at the national level MP Thavarchand Gehlot from Madhya Pradesh, former union minister and MP Bihar Hukumdev Narayan Yadav, former minister Sarjuram from Jharkhand, Dr K Laxman form Andhra Pradesh, Sudhir Muntigavkar from Maharashtra, former MP Vijay Pal Tomar from Uttar Pradesh and Hridyanath Singh from Delhi will coordinate with our National President BJP Kisan Morcha Om Prakash Dhankar.

He said that the state coordinators of committees include Subhash Barala from Haryana, Jagtar Saini from Punjab, former minister Jairam Thakur from Himachal, Purushottam Mahajan from Chandigarh, Dr Nirmal Singh from Jammu and Kashmir and former union minister Bachchi Singh Rawat from Uttarakhand.

Grewal said that the work on collecting iron will start on October 31 on the day of birth anniversary of Sardar Patel and will continue till Republic Day on January 26, 2014. He said that Bhoomi Pujan will be held at the Sardar Sarovar Dam on October 31 wherein thousands will be participating from all over India.

Grewal appealed people of India to come forward and contribute generously for this cause.