To commemorate the 144th birth anniversary of Late Ballabhbhai Patel, Iron Man of India, Govt. of Gujarat under the visionary directions of the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India constructed the Statue of Unity at Kevadia, Gujarat. The Statue of Unity is a colossal statue of Indian statesman and independence activist Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who was the first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of independent India and the chief adherent of Mahatma Gandhi during the non-violent Indian Independence movement.
Symbolizing the National, spiritual, historical and academic values, the Statue of Unity will lead to the icon based development of the entire region of Kevadia in Gujarat which is predominately a tribal area. To convert Statue of Unity into one of the tourists destinations in India, Govt. of Gujarat has undertaken a large number of projects and with the aim to enhance the quality of lives of local tribal people in the region, ‘’Ekta Mall’’ has been constructed by the Govt. of Gujarat at Kevadia, Gujarat. Handloom and handicrafts corporation, organisations and agencies from each state have been invited to put up retail showroom at Ekta Mall to showcase the handicrafts and handlooms of different states.
Rakesh Kumar, Director General – EPCH informed that a showroom has been taken by EPCH where artisans of different craft clusters will be showcasing the handicrafts items being produced by them. This will not only give boost to open souvenir showrooms near the important tourists places in India but also will be enhancing marketing linkages for the artisans as more than 10,000 tourists from India and abroad visit the Statue of Unity everyday.
Today Handicrafts showroom owned by EPCH was inaugurated in the presence of Ravi K Passi, Chairman-EPCH, RK Malhotra, Vice Chairman – EPCH and Lekhraj Maheshwari, Dinesh Kumar, Prince Malik, Ashok Boob, Neeraj Khanna, Anoop Shankhdhar, Naved Ur Rehman, K.N. Tulasi Rao, VS Goel and Pradeep Muchhala, members of Committee of Administration elaborated Rakesh Kumar, Director General – EPCH.
