Over 8 lakh people have visited the site from November 1 last year. (File)

The Gujarat government on Tuesday increased the Statue of Unity's visiting time for the public by two hours, state Chief Secretary J N Singh said.

He said the new visiting hours for the Sardar Patel memorial in Kevadiya in the state's Narmada district are from 8am to 6pm instead of the earlier 9am to 5pm.

The 182- metre statue, the tallest such structure in the world, has seen a huge rush of visitors since it was unveiled on October 31 last year by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Over 8 lakh people have visited the site from November 1 last year, when it was opened for the public, till date, the chief secretary said.

I K Patel, Narmada district collector and chief administrator of the Statue of Unity site, told PTI that the new time slots were decided upon keeping in mind the visitor rush expected during the summer season.

An official around 7,000 visitors can view the memorial daily in the new time slot against 6,000 during weekends and public holidays in the earlier 9am-5pm period.