Tourists coming to visit the Statue of Unity faced a tough time as one of the two high-speed elevators stopped working. This snag has hit for the third time in four days.
 
Queues got longer irking visitors as the other elevator was insufficient to handle the growing crowd. Local media reported that there were serpentine queues and long hours of wait for visitors wanting to see view of nearby areas from the 153-meters-high viewing gallery of the statue.
 
The management faced ire of tourists who were not able to see to the viewing gallery even after waiting for nearly three to four hours. Many of them demanded refund for their tickets. There was similar chaos on December 2 and 4 because of malfunctioning of lifts.
 
“While the sale of tickets for the viewing gallery have been capped at 6,500 persons per day, the unprecedented rush has taken its toll on the lifts,” official said
 
Collector of Narmada District and CEO of SoU IK Patel, who rushed to the site to handle the situation, said “The Mumbai-based company which has installed these elevators has been contacted and they will be sending technicians immediately. The snag will be resolved soon.”
 
06121808
Each elevator in the Statue of Unity can carry 26 passengers and they cover the distance of 153 meters in just 30 seconds.
 
Critics in Social media of Statue however say , with 10,000 persons each day the 3000+ crores project with 8% PA interest component can achieve breakeven only after 102 years . Added to it with technical snag that too repeated nature makes tourists unhappiness that spread wrong message across the globe they added
 
Online tickets for the Sardar Patel statue as per site is :
 
Entry is free for children below the age of 3, while it is Rs 350 per head for everyone else. This ticket includes entry to the observation deck, valley of flowers, the Sardar Patel memorial, museum and audio-visual gallery, the Statue of Unity site and the Sardar Sarovar dam.
 
There is a cheaper option as well that will cost you Rs 120 and Rs 60 for children below the age of 15. This ticket includes a basic entry ticket to the valley of flowers, the Sardar Patel memorial, museum and audio-visual gallery, the Statue of Unity site and the dam.