Published on : Tuesday, August 20, 2019
Rajiv Gupta, additional chief secretary and managing director of the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited, said that the zoo, as well as river rafting facilities, is part of a plan for making Kevadiya, where the statue is situated, a major tourist attraction.
To quote Gupta, “Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani inaugurated a river rafting sport facility at Khalvani near the Statue of Unity on Saturday. The zoo will be developed across 1,300 acres over seven levels and will have lions, tigers, leopards, 12 types of deer and antelopes, giraffes, zebras, rhinos, bisons, and other exotic animals. Setting up the Sardar Patel Zoological Park is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s wish to develop this region as a major tourism hub. He had expressed this while inaugurating the Statue of Unity last year.”
Gupta said that the Central Zoo Authority had given in-principle sanction to the plan. 19 lakh tourists have visited the world’s largest statue so far. The statue is a memorial to Sardar Patel, since it was inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi on October 31 last year.
Tags: Statue of Unity