Construction activity inaugurated by former prime minister late Atal Bihari Vajpayee, in April 2002, the mantle to inaugurate the much awaited Bogibeel Bridge, one of the four longest rail cum road bridges in India has now fallen on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. If everything goes right, he will inaugurate the 4.98 km-long bridge on December 25. The bridge conceived as part of the 1985 Assam Accord is likely to enhance India’s capability to ensure faster movement of troops and supplies to the country’seastern border in Arunachal Pradesh. The bridge will connect Dibrugarh and Dhemaji districts of Assam and will reduce the travel between Arunachal Pradesh and New Delhi by about 170 km. It will provide connectivity to nearly five million people residing in Upper Assam and Arunachal Pradesh with easy and direct access to upper Assam from the rest of the country through the north bank, in contrast to the current route through Guwahati in the south bank – which is long and tortuous.

The rail-road bridge is the fourth being built on the river, the others being Pandu Saraighat, Kolia-Bjumuraguri and Naranarayan Setu at Jogighopa, all of them in Assam. The Bogibeel Bridge is the longest structure being built on the River Brahmaputra and will be the country’s fourth largest bridge. The Bogibeel Bridge is a double-deck bridge with a two-line railway track on the lower deck and a three-lane road on the upper. The road level will be 10.5m above the railway line. The rail project comprises 74km of railway line, including the rail links on the south and north banks of the river. The rail line will be linked to Chowalkhowa, which is 5.83km from Dibrugarh, on the south bank and between Sisi Borgaon and Sirpani on the north bank.

Though late prime minister Vajpayee promised to complete the bridge by 2012, it took inconsiderate delays as well as cost escalations due to unfavourable weather conditions which allow only four months construction work on the river-bed due to monsoons. Though Arunachal remained underdeveloped insofar as rail connectivity is concerned, the Bogibeel Bridge is expected to accelerate the growth in this area. Already the State capital is now connected with rail link up to Naharlagun and Bogibeel Bridge will help improve the situation in the Siang Valley districts.

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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