On Rashtriya Ekta Diwas, 31 October 2026 — the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel — Prime Minister Narendra Modi handed Ekta Nagar a sweeping infrastructure upgrade worth more than ₹426 crore, transforming the township around the world's tallest statue into a full-spectrum tourism and civic destination. Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel welcomed the milestone on X, calling it a 'new gift of development' to the state.

What Modi inaugurated at Ekta Nagar on October 31

The package covers an eclectic mix of attractions and utilities. A Rain Forest zone and Unity and Eco Trail expand the green-tourism footprint around the Statue of Unity, while an upgrade to the Shoolpaneshwar Narmada Ghat adds a spiritual anchor to the visitor circuit. An IRCTC Hotel — developed by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation — and the Ekta Cruise service on the Narmada deepen overnight and leisure offerings. A fleet of electric buses addresses last-mile connectivity, and a new sewage and water treatment plant along with façade lighting rounds out the civic backbone.

The PM also laid the foundation for or dedicated Gora-Bhandara Road Development, an Integrated Zero-Waste Smart Solid Waste Management Project, Khalwani Eco-Tourism Development, and a combined Cactus and Butterfly Garden. Each project targets the broader Narmada district belt, aiming to knit Ekta Nagar more tightly to its surrounding landscape.

Eight years of building around the Statue of Unity

When Modi inaugurated the Statue of Unity on 31 October 2018, it stood largely alone in the Kevadia valley. The years since have seen concentric rings of infrastructure — a tent city, a jungle safari, a cactus garden phase one, a butterfly garden, a children's nutrition park — stacked around the 182-metre monument to Sardar Patel. The October 31, 2026 round is the most ambitious single-day addition in that eight-year arc, layering eco-tourism corridors, hospitality stock, clean-energy transport, and waste management into one announcement.

CM Patel's post, written in Gujarati, thanked the Prime Minister 'from the heart' (hrudaythi aabhar) for gifting Gujarat 'numerous works of heritage and development.' The framing is deliberate: Ekta Nagar is positioned not merely as a pilgrimage to Patel's memory but as a live demonstration of the BJP's twin campaign themes of Virasat aur Vikas — heritage and development.

Why the eco-tourism angle matters now

The Rain Forest zone and Khalwani Eco-Tourism Development signal a pivot toward nature-based tourism in the Shoolpaneshwar Wildlife Sanctuary corridor — biodiversity-rich terrain that borders the reservoir created by the Sardar Sarovar Dam. Pairing that with the Zero-Waste Smart Solid Waste Management project sends a signal that the state intends to absorb growing visitor numbers without degrading the ecology. Electric buses add a clean-mobility layer that Gujarat has been rolling out at flagship tourism sites across the state.

For tourists, the practical upshot is significant: an IRCTC hotel means direct train-to-room booking through a national platform, the Ekta Cruise opens the Narmada as a scenic corridor, and upgraded ghats let pilgrims combine the Shoolpaneshwar temple circuit with the statue visit in a single trip.

Ekta Nagar just got a lot bigger — and the tourist season opening in November will be its first real test.