News18 Explains | Why Assam’s Bogibeel Bridge is Critical to India?

Описание: Assam’s long wait for the Bogibeel Bridge — the longest rail-cum-road bridge — will end when Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates it on Tuesday.

The 4.9km-long bridge, which witnessed several protests and missed deadlines, will not only improve connectivity between the banks of the mighty Brahmaputra River, but also help the economic development of the region and strengthen the defence movement along the India-China frontiers.
Speaking about the bridge, former Assam chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, said: “It has been a long-pending demand of the people of the region and I feel glad that it has become a reality now.”

Sanctioned on January 22, 1997, then prime minister HD Deve Gowda had laid the foundation stone for the bridge. However, the construction began only after former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee inaugurated the work site on April 21, 2002. The inauguration ceremony of the bridge coincides with the 94th birth anniversary of Vajpayee, who passed away in August this year.

Remembering the struggle to include the Bogibeel Bridge project in the railway budget under the Deve Gowda-led government, Birendra Prasad Baishya, Lok Sabha MP from Asom Gana Parishad (1996–97), said: “The railway budget had no mention of the bridge initially. But we vehemently demanded it in the cabinet meeting ahead of placing the railway budget. Only then did the railway ministry agreed to our demands.”
Located just over 20km away from the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border, the Bogibeel Bridge will act as an alternative to the Kolia Bhomora Setu of Sonitpur district in providing connectivity to nearly five million people residing in Upper Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
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