The 108 feet high ‘Statue of Unity’ installed in Omkareshwar was found completely safe in the tests of IIT. Its design life is said to be more than 500 years.
The 108 feet high polymetal statue of Adiguru Shankaracharya, ‘Idol of Unity’, installed in ‘Ekatma Dham’ located at the holy pilgrimage site Omkareshwar in Madhya Pradesh, is completely safe and strong. Established in the year 2023 by the ‘Acharya Shankar Cultural Integration Trust’ of the Culture Department, this statue has been constructed using modern engineering techniques and as per international safety standards.
The services of reputed expert institutions of the country and abroad were taken for the construction, design and safety assessment of the statue, so that its quality and long-term strength could be ensured.
Statue of Unity manufacturing company L&T constructed it
Chief Engineer and Project Director Ekatm Dham Rajiv Srivastava said that this historical statue has been constructed by the country’s leading company L&T through Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation. The same company has also built the world’s tallest statue ‘Statue of Unity’. The casting work of the statue was also done by the same expert company JTQ, which had played an important role in world class projects like the Statue of Unity.
International experts and big institutions prepared the design
International company Minehart Singapore, which has global experience in large and complex construction works, was appointed as the project management consultant. At the same time, the design of the statue was done by the country’s prestigious firm C.P. Prepared by Kukreja Associates. This organization has also designed many major national projects like Yashobhoomi, Bharat Mandapam and Vallabh Bhawan Annexe.
IIT Madras and IIT Delhi conducted security test
Extensive technical testing and consultation was undertaken from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras and IIT Delhi to ensure the strength and structural stability of the statue. IIT Madras did a mix design of the statue and conducted state-of-the-art seismic analysis. In the technical evaluation of IIT Delhi, the design life of this statue has been estimated at 500 years or more. This makes it clear that this structure has been designed to remain safe for a long time.
Can also face earthquake and strong storm
Although the Omkareshwar area falls in Seismic Zone-3, the entire structural designing of the statue has been prepared as per the standards of the more sensitive Seismic Zone-4. This design was found completely safe in tests.
Apart from this, Germany’s famous wind engineering company Werner Sobek AG conducted wind tunnel testing of the statue. While winds of 140 kilometers per hour are considered standard for the region, the statue was tested keeping in mind a strong wind of 169 kilometers per hour. Due to this, this statue is able to remain safe even in extremely bad weather.
Proved to be completely safe even in modern software testing
The statue was also found to be completely safe in the analysis done through world-class structural software ETABS. While the limit of permissible stress ratio is set at 0.85, the actual stress ratio of this statue was recorded only at 0.4, which is much better than the prescribed safety standards.
The statue will remain the center of attraction for devotees and tourists for many centuries.
According to technical experts associated with the project, the pedestal and main structure of the statue are completely balanced and in strong condition. This 108 feet high ‘Statue of Unity’, built as per international standards, will remain a major center of faith, culture and inspiration for devotees and tourists from India and abroad for many centuries to come.