A visit to Statue of Unity

My Earlier Visit to Sardar Sarovar back in Year 2016:

I visited Sardar Sarovar Dam and the surrounding vicinity back in 2016, and it gave me full mental relaxation and peace of soul on that trip. Lush green natural surroundings, uninterrupted entrance, and freedom of visiting places around which my heart wanted. The below collection of photos from 2016 are still softly engraved in my memories.

Visit To Statue Of Unity - 2020:

Keeping the same enthusiasm in my heart and desire for calmness in my soul, I planned to visit Sardar Sarovar Dam again on the first day of the year 2020.

And this time I had more greed for adventure along with a search for peace of mind and body, as this time I was to observe one of the engineering miracles: the world's tallest statue, "The Statue of Unity."

Whenever I plan to visit such places, I always research on the internet about the place, rules, facilities, and then make my plan from start to end—starting from which road to take, when to reach, where to park the vehicle, ticketing counters, and the sequence of places and points to be visited there.

From Parking Lot to Viewing Gallery

As per my planning, I reached there well on time.

Please note that the Viewing Gallery (termed as VG) has time slots of 2 hours starting from 8 AM in the morning. One has to be in the reception hall and near the elevator within this time slot. If missed, only the last slot after 5 PM will be available to reach up to the VG. So plan your arrival accordingly, keeping a margin of at least 30 minutes from parking your vehicle.

There are 3-4 parking lots available for the entire complex. We reached on time, but we were guided to the parking of "Valley of Flowers," which is a little away from the main Statue of Unity parking lot.

There are buses available which shuttle between these points, such as the Valley of Flowers, Dam site, Statue of Unity, etc.

After parking your vehicle in these parking lots, you need to take these buses to reach your desired spot.

Note that the VG has a fixed time slot as per the ticket you buy. So it's obvious that the VG of the Statue of Unity has to be visited at that fixed time only, and the rest of the surrounding attractions and other spots can be visited afterwards.

Tickets for the VG cost ₹380 per head (adults), which includes entry and other monument entries for free. There is an express ticket also available at a cost of ₹1,000, but I don't feel that will help anyway regardless of the crowd size.

I had a lot of high hopes for a better trip this time, but this time it was neither the peace of mind nor the touch of soul.

It was like a perfect example of how modernization and development are destroying natural beauty.

Creating a miracle is a great thing, but making it memorable is more important than that. The engineers who made this tallest monument deserve full credit, along with the Indian government and workers who helped shape it into a world-famous landmark. However, the managing body of this monument is the worst I have seen to date. There is a sheer lack of management across the entire complex.

Starting from parking the vehicle, I was disappointed at every moment due to various blunders by the managing committee.

As I explained, buses need to be taken from parking to reach respective spots, but the bus system is very unmanaged. There are no signboards on the buses indicating which spot they will take you to from your parking lot. There are no signboards showing where to actually stand to catch the bus. The security staff is just there for decoration purposes and often don't even know what their role is. You might board a bus thinking it goes to the Statue of Unity, only to find out after it departs that it's heading to the Dam site. It's a truly haphazard way of running a transport system.

Note that the Statue of Unity complex is very huge, and you have to walk kilometers to reach the elevator hall of the VG from the parking lot.

Wear comfortable footwear and have water bottles, caps, and sunglasses ready with you for this walking marathon just to enjoy 5 minutes of the view from the VG.

From the parking lot to the VG, you are left on your own to stroll and struggle. There are no guides, no staff, and no signboards indicating how to get from the parking lot to the VG. The upkeep of the complex is very poor. Queues are long and wide, with no staff to manage or guide them. We are left like sheep following each other to reach nowhere without proper guiding signboards.

The ground floor museum also did not meet my expectations; it mostly features written frames on various topics that aren't closely related to each other. It seems they had a huge complex and needed to cover it up with something, so they improvised somehow.

I spoke to a few available staff members near the museum entrance and elevator queues, and learned that they are equally frustrated by the lack of a proper guiding system in such a huge complex, feeling helpless against my critical feedback regarding the poor management of such a beautiful monument. Even Entry and Exit signboards were missing at the museum doors.

There are spots like the "Ekta Food Court" where you can grab a bite, but this too disappointed me greatly. The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan felt mocked here, as piles of unmanaged food waste lay around everywhere.

Secondly, the food court accepts cash only, with no digital payment facilities available. This was yet another humiliation for the Digital India campaign in a complex inaugurated by leaders championing that very dream. It made me feel a deep sense of pity.

There were no proper handwashing facilities or toilets, and the overall ambiance of the food court was extremely poor.

Summary: