Bengaluru: Time was when a lot of people raised a hue and cry over the Statue of Unity in Gujarat. Many wondered if the Statue was ever needed and some others added that the money for the same could be used for other useful purposes in the society. 

Now, a little more than a year since its inauguration, the statue has surpassed the footfall at the Statue of Liberty in America, which is 133 years old, as per a news report published in The Indian Express. 

The newspaper adds that, on an average, over 15,000 tourists visited the monument daily.  

“With 74 per cent increase over the daily average of the first year, that is, November 1, 2018, to October 31, 2019, daily average of 15,036 is now registered in the first month of this second year.
“This has further increased to 22,430 on weekend days. The Statue of Liberty of New York, United States, attracts around 10,000 visitors a day!” a statement by Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd said.

Here are a few unique features of the monument. 

1. The Statue of Unity is the world's tallest statue at 182 metres or 597 feet.

2. The height of 182 metres was specifically chosen to match the number of seats in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly.

3. It is constructed on a river island named Sadhu Bet which is 3.2 km away from and faces the Narmada Dam downstream.

4. The giant statue and its surroundings occupy more than 4.9 acres as per sources.

5. It is also surrounded by a 12-km long artificial lake formed by the Garudeshwar weir downstream on the Narmada river.

6. The statue is built to withstand winds of up to 180 kilometres per hour or 110 mph and earthquakes measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale which are at a depth of 10 km and within a radius of 12 km of the statue.