As Statue of Unity completes five years, how tourism has changed the name and face of a sleepy village

Since the inauguration of the statue — its height an exact match for the 182 seats in the Gujarat Assembly — Ekta Nagar has emerged as one of the state’s top tourist destinations, which include Gir Sanctuary, Rann of Kutch, Pavagadh, Somnath, Dwarka and Ahmedabad.

A far cry from its rustic appearance until a few years ago, all remnants of Kevadia village, once the cradle of one of India’s most vocal agitations against the construction of a dam on the Narmada, have disappeared today. Today’s Ekta Nagar boasts of annual tourist footfall of over 20 lakh from 4.5 lakh in 2018, a railway station, international food chains, luxury hotels, an avant-garde tent city along the banks of the Narmada and an administration on a par with a municipal corporation.

A luxury hotel being constructed in Ekta Nagar. (Express Photo By Bhupendra Rana)

“Ekta Nagar, please,” says Authority Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Udit Agarwal, while insisting on the new name for Kevadia. He says the Authority, which was constituted in 2019, has jurisdiction over 21 notified villages of the tribal Narmada district, including Kevadia. According to the 2011 Census, each village had a population of nearly 1,800.

Three years ago, the Kevadia Tourism Circuit was inaugurated in the periphery of the Rs 3,000-crore statue. The circuit includes attractions around the statue like the Valley of Flowers, a jungle safari, cacti, butterfly and medicinal plant gardens, a tent city and river rafting.

However, Ekta Nagar, which is home to the Sardar Sarovar Dam reservoir on the Narmada, was a popular picnic spot even before the statue came up.

Visitors to the Statue of Unity have grown steadily over the past five years

Ganpat Tadvi, a former resident of Navagam, which is now a part of the tourism circuit, says, “Before the statue, tourists would come to picnic at the dam, mainly during the monsoon. But the local vendors who sold roasted corn, wafers and samosas have disappeared. One can only buy from food courts and hotels now.”

Today, the nearly 40-storey-tall statue stands on the flattened Sadhu Tekra hillock. An entire ecosystem has sprung up in Ekta Nagar to cater exclusively to the needs of the over 20 lakh tourists who descend here annually. There have been other telling changes over the years too.

The town’s sole restaurant, the go-to eatery for visitors and even dignitaries until a few years ago, gave way to an international food chain last year. With nearly every national conference of ministers being held in Ekta Nagar now and multiple helipads cropping up around the statue, the residents are no stranger to weekly VIP movements and chopper landings. And though Ekta Nagar enjoys enviable connectivity to Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Surat via rail and road, its water aerodrome is awaiting government nod to finalise the process to hire an operator to resume seaplane services to Ahmedabad.

En route to the statue from the railway station lies Ekta Mall, an air-conditioned emporium of state handicrafts and handlooms to whet the appetite of souvenir-hunting tourists. At Arogya Van, a nursery of medicinal plants, a team of women from one of the 21 villages run the forest department canteen. A souvenir shop opposite the fixed-menu canteen sells hand painted clay keepsakes like bottles and plates.

Women from Bhumaliya village’s Sakhi Mandal run the forest department’s Arogya Van cafeteria in Ekta Nagar. (Express Photo By Bhupendra Rana)

Pramila Tadvi, 56, the head of the team that runs the canteen, says, “Over the last five years, infrastructure in Ekta Nagar has changed beyond recognition. We now have roads, buildings, uninterrupted power supply, a railway station, increased frequency of buses and even the seaplane, which ran briefly. The tourism circuit has resulted in opportunities for the residents, who are opening homestays and eateries. The only thing that remains is water from the Narmada canal.”

Changes brought about by the statue are not limited to just Ekta Nagar. They are visible along the 90-km four-lane highway from Vadodara till the tourist attraction too. In place of the canopy of banyan trees that kissed each other across the then two-lane highway merely six years ago today are numerous upcoming residential projects, including villas, homestays, tent stays and luxury hotels.

From a single guest house belonging to the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd (SSNNL) until 2018, Ekta Nagar now has over 23 hotels and 85 homestays offering a “luxury” experience. A couple of more five-star hotels are coming up in the area. That the residents of Kevadia have moved on from simply relying on cotton, corn and castor to making a massive windfall from “village homestays” is evident from the multitude of LED signboards over the nearly 10-km stretch between Garudeshwar to Ekta Nagar.

As the tide of tourists brought jobs to these villages, their anger against the SSNNL for taking possession of their land for the project has seemingly ebbed.

Nimisha Tadvi, 25, belongs to Vaghadia village, which was one of the six petitioners against SSNNL in the Gujarat High Court. Today, she is enrolled with an agency in Ekta Nagar that leases e-rickshaws to women. “I’m sure those who objected to this development never thought of the ways it would uplift the locals,” she says.

Nimisha Tadvi, 25, who belongs to Vaghadia village, is enrolled with an agency in Ekta Nagar that leases e-rickshaw to women. (Express Photo By Bhupendra Rana)

The mother-of-two adds, “I make around Rs 500 per day, after paying the agency a daily rental of Rs 700 on weekdays and Rs 900 on weekends. My husband works as a peon with the Authority. While we did not lose land like the others, they did receive compensation. My family’s land does not have a high yield, so opportunities that have come with tourism are a blessing for us.”

For Chiman Tadvi, 52, the tourism boom ended his nearly decade-long struggle for a job closer home. In 2022, he got a job as a security guard at a popular food outlet in Ekta Nagar.

He says, “I worked in Vapi (in Valsad district, about 250 km away) as a gardener for several years, while my family lived here. When I heard about job opportunities here, I applied at the private agency in Mumbai and got the job. Finally, I am with my family. My sons are studying and one of them wants to be a lawyer. I see a bright future for us in Ekta Nagar.”

Until the Covid-19 lockdown, Ketan Tadvi was a Class-4 employee at a Vadodara warehouse. Today, he is a part of a housekeeping team at a luxury hotel near the statue. “I realised the job potential in Ekta Nagar after I returned home during the lockdown. My current job pays twice as much as the last one and I get to live with my family too. With the number of hotels coming up here, the locals will have more job opportunities,” he says.

At Arogya Van, 15 women from Bhumaliya village’s Sakhi Mandal, a microfinance initiative by the state government to empower women in rural areas, run the forest department canteen.

Pramila, who is also in the process of starting a homestay, says, “Ours was the only registered Sakhi Mandal, so the forest department approached us in 2020. We accepted the offer since we knew how to cook. We did not realise then how this opportunity would turn us into entrepreneurs. Today, many of us have bought our own two-wheelers, electronics and even set up homestays. It has been truly liberating, since some of our members are widows and single mothers.”

Alka Tadvi, 45, a single mother who is a part of Sakhi Mandal, says the opportunity enabled her to send her three daughters to college and turn the upper floor of her house into a two-room homestay. Located in Gabana, where almost every other house is a “village homestay”, Alka’s homestay even boasts of an AC room and a lounging area, which she “leases out for Rs 2,500 per night”.

Like Alka and the others, the statue has resulted in jobs for nearly 4,000 locals and people from nearby states as sanitation workers, railway staff, security guards, tourist guides and staff at tourist spots. However, the number of aspirants currently exceeds the opportunities available.

A resident of Limdi village says, “My son worked as a security guard for two years but got laid off during the pandemic. He is still looking for a job. Many from outside the area — even outside Narmada and Gujarat — are getting jobs here instead of the locals.”

While talking about the October 31 celebrations, CEO Agarwal says following the announcement by the PM on World Environment Day in 2021 to turn Ekta Nagar into an “EV City”, the Authority has started readying infrastructure to ensure that only battery-powered vehicles, including official ones, run within Ekta Nagar.

Udit Agarwal, the CEO for the Statue of Unity Area Development and Tourism Governance Authority. (Express Photo by Bhupendra Rana)

“We are adding new attractions, including 30 electric buses, some of which will be inaugurated by the PM. We are also working to improve the tourist mobility experience by turning Ekta Nagar into a pedestrian-friendly electric vehicle city that is sensitive to the needs of the differently abled,” says Agarwal.

To a query on the Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Group “showing interest” in the jungle safari, he tells The Indian Express, “It is not true. Reliance is not taking over the jungle safari or any other part of Ekta Nagar. However, It contributes to the safari’s maintenance.”