LUCKNOW: A statue of Lord Ram to be built in Ayodhya will be the country's tallest, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said after a meeting of his cabinet on Monday evening.
The statue will be 251 metres high, which means it will stand taller than the 183-metre Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel statue - the Statue of Unity - built in Gujarat.
Yogi Adityanath said the Ram statue would be installed on a 100 acre site. The UP government will seek technical assistance from Gujarat.
Yogi Adityanath, who wears only saffron robes and remains the head priest of the Gorakhnath temple alongside his administrative role, said his government was preparing a plan over the overall development of Ayodhya.
"There should be arrangements for basic tourist facilities along with the digital museum, interpretation centre, library, parking, food plaza, landscaping based on the theme of Lord Shri Ram," he said.
A trust led by the Chief Minister will oversee the plan in the holy town that has for years been home to the divisive temple-mosque dispute.
Yogi Adityanath said a separate unit of the State Manufacturing Corporation would be set up for the project, structure, bidding operation and construction work.
The UP government plans to enlist the help of IIT Kanpur and Nagpur-based NEERI (National Environmental Engineering Research Institute) to carry out the site survey, environmental assessment and feasibility study,.
The 251-metre Lord Ram statue will also be the world's tallest. The Statue of Liberty in New York is 93 metres, Dr BR Ambedkar's statue in Mumbai is 137.2 metres, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's in Gujarat is 183 meters, Gautam Buddha's statue in China is 208 metres and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's statue in Mumbai is 212 metres.
Earlier this year, Yogi Adityanath had unveiled a smaller, wooden statue of Lord Ram in Ayodhya. The seven-foot tall statue, inspired by Karnataka's art, has been installed at the Ayodhya research institute.