Bogibeel Bridge

Bogibeel Bridge

A 22-year long wait for Assam and Arunachal Pradesh will be finally over on Tuesday with the formal opening of the road cum rail bridge at Bogibeel over the Brahmaputra. The country’s longest bridge at 4.94 kms, the strategic value of this asset can hardly be overstated. It is expected to play a major role in defending the Indo-China border at Arunachal Pradesh. With rail distance shortened by 705 kms and road distance by 150 kms between Itanagar and Dibrugarh, this bridge is also expected to open up the economy across vast swathes on the north and south banks near the Assam-Arunachal border. Promised in the 1985 Assam Accord, it was sanctioned 12 years later and the foundation stone laid only in January 1998 by then Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda. At that time, the cost was estimated at Rs 1,767 crore, which has ballooned to nearly Rs 5,900 crore. While the Atal Behari Vajpayee led NDA government gave it a push by starting work in 2002, the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government gave it the status of a national project in 2007, which opened the doors to funds on priority basis. An engineering marvel, keeping in mind its location in the highest Seismic Zone V, this is also the first bridge in India that has a fully welded construction based on European standards, besides equipped with seismic restrainers in each span. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi slated to open the bridge to the public on Christmas Day from Kareng Chapori on north bank, there is a jockeying by political parties to take credit, never mind the 22-year wait! The opening ceremony has been arranged in conjunction with the birth anniversary of Atal Behari Vajpayee, and a controversy has already cropped up over naming the bridge, which is unseemly, to say the least.

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