Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated 23 projects and laid foundation stones for eight more in Ekta Nagar, Gujarat, on 31 October 2026. The projects represent a combined investment of ₹426.71 crore, with ₹307.83 crore for completed works and ₹118.88 crore for upcoming projects. They are intended to develop tourism and civic infrastructure around the Statue of Unity.
Tourism and civic infrastructure
New attractions include a ₹50-crore Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation hotel, the ₹16-crore Ekta Cruise, a ₹14.30-crore rainforest attraction and a ₹3.67-crore Eco-Trail. Modi also inaugurated the Ekta Prakash Parv heritage display, campus exterior lighting and an upgraded Unity Glow Garden.
Visitor facilities include ₹28.22-crore travelators, a 24-metre colony road, two nine-metre air-conditioned electric buses and an extended walkway linking Ekta Nagar railway station with the Visitor Centre. A ₹45.53-crore sewage treatment plant, ₹21.40-crore water treatment plant and ₹23.81-crore parade track were also inaugurated.
Projects announced and Rashtriya Ekta Diwas
Upcoming works include the ₹59.32-crore Gora-Bhanadra Road, a ₹36.58-crore Smart Zero Waste integrated waste management facility, Khalwani Bridge, a cactus and butterfly garden, Khalwani Eco-Tourism development, Vaghadia Road widening and a disaster control room for the Sardar Sarovar Dam. Modi paid floral tributes to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on his 151st birth anniversary, observed as Rashtriya Ekta Diwas.
Important Facts for Exams
- Treatment stages: Ekta Nagar’s sewage-treatment project relates to a process that commonly uses primary and secondary stages, with tertiary treatment adding polishing and nutrient removal.
- Particle removal: For the Ekta Nagar water-treatment project, coagulants can neutralise suspended particles, helping them aggregate into floc that can be removed by sedimentation and filtration.
- Passenger access: The travelators listed for Ekta Nagar are moving walkways: slow-moving conveyors that carry people across horizontal or inclined routes over short to medium distances.
