A dream has finally come true for Assam and Arunachal Pradesh as Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Bogibeel Bridge, the longest rail-cum-road bridge on Brahmaputra river, today on December 25. Modi turned Santa with this gift for the people of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh as the new bridge will reduce the distance for over five million people living in these two states.
The bridge will facilitate faster movement of troops and supplies to Arunachal Pradesh, the country’s eastern-most state that shares the border with China.
While the bridge is being inaugurated today, the foundation stone of the bridge was laid in 1997 by the then Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda. However, the construction started only in 2002 when then (late) Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee inaugurated the construction works.
The 4.98 km-long bridge is situated 17 km downstream of Dibrugarh and Dhemaji. It crosses the Brahmaputra river and will connect Assam’s Dibrugarh town with Dhemaji.
Located 20 km away from the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border, the bridge is expected to act as an alternative to the Kolia Bhomora Setu in Tezpur.
Built at a cost of around Rs 5,920 crore, the bridge is India’s longest rail cum road bridge which is based on the design of Oresund bridge that connects Sweden and Finland across the Oresand strait.
The Bogibeel Bridge is designed to withstand tremors up to 7 and beyond. It falls in seismic zone-V which is known to be the most vulnerable to earthquakes with magnitudes in excess of seven on the Richter scale.
The Northeast Frontier Railway has decided to run four special trains to and from Tangani to facilitate people to join the inaugural function of Bogibeel Bridge on December 25.
The four special trains will run from Gogamukh in Lakhimpur district and Murkongselek in Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border.
Earlier, senior Congress leader and former Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Nabam Tuki had appealed to PM Modi to defer the inauguration of Bogibeel Bridge as it is Christmas Day and it is difficult for people from Arunachal Pradesh to participate in the historic function.
A controversy also stirred up over the naming of the bridge. Many organisations in Assam were demanding the bridge be named after their icon Chaolung Siu-ka-pha, the founder of the erstwhile Ahom Kingdom of Assam.