World’s tallest Statue of Unity has been in the news since it was inaugurated in 2018 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The 182-meter tall Statue’s viewing gallery was lashed by season’s first monsoon rains as water gushed into the gallery due to strong winds and leakage. Video of water puddles in Statue of Unity’s viewing gallery is doing rounds on social media and has given fodder to the critics of the project. In the video, people are seen carefully trying to avoid puddles of water and leakage from the ceiling. The southwest monsoon has hit the Narmada district of Gujarat and there was heavy downpour with strong winds in the region.

Watch the video here:


Statue of Unity officials have a released a statement on Twitter saying that because of high-velocity winds, rainwater came inside the viewing gallery. The design of the viewing gallery is such that it is kept open to give tourists a better view of the surrounding areas. It added that accumulated water has been promptly tackled by the Statue of Unity’s maintenance team.


At a time, 200 tourists can visit the viewing gallery and it gives a stunning view of the Narmada Valley, lofty Vindhya and Satpura hills and the Sardar Sarovar Dam to the public. Since the Statue of Unity was inaugurated post-monsoon in 2018, it is experiencing its first ever rainy season now.

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A report in the Indian Express quoted a Statue official saying that this accumulation of water on the viewing gallery’s floor cannot be termed as ‘leakage’. IE quoted IK Patel, CEO of the Statue of Unity, “We have kept the viewing gallery open so that people can enjoy the view of the natural scenic beauty of the surroundings. At the back side of the viewing gallery, there is a glass enclosure and no water is not collected there. But since the front side, at the chest level, is still open as per its design and it is but natural that the rainwater has come into the standing area.” Patel rejected that there was any leakage. “There was no leakage in the viewing gallery. It was only the trail of same rainwater that dripped from the ceiling,” he said.

He added that they will still take corrective measures for leakage, from wherever it has been reported. “L&T has been asked to take corrective measures at the earliest,” Patel said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Statue of Unity in October 2018. It took 42 months for the Rs 2,989 crore project to complete. 3,400 labourers and 250 engineers worked round-the-clock to achieve this feat.