Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will arrive in Assam on a one-day visit tomorrow. At around 10:30 am, the Prime Minister will land at the Emergency Landing Facility (ELF) on Moran Bypass in Dibrugarh, where he will witness an aerial display of fighters, transports and helicopters. At around 1 pm, the Prime Minister will visit and inaugurate the six-lane Kumar Bhaskar Varma Setu, connecting Guwahati and North Guwahati, across the Brahmaputra.
At around 1:30 pm, the Prime Minister will also inaugurate and flag off various projects worth more than Rs 5,450 crore at Lachit Ghat, Guwahati.
The ELF on Moran Bypass in Dibrugarh is the first of its kind in Northeast India. It has been specially designed and constructed in coordination with the Indian Air Force to support landing and take-off of military and civil aircraft during emergencies. It will serve as a critical asset for emergency response, enabling quick deployment of rescue and relief operations during natural disasters or strategic requirements in the Northeast. Envisioned as dual-use infrastructure, the ELF is capable of handling fighter aircraft up to 40 tonnes and transport aircraft with up to 74 tonnes maximum take-off weight.
The Prime Minister will also inaugurate several key projects aimed at accelerating connectivity, strengthening digital infrastructure, promoting higher education, and enhancing public transport, thereby giving a significant boost to development in the Northeastern Region. He will inaugurate the Kumar Bhaskar Varma Setu across the River Brahmaputra, built at a cost of around Rs 3,030 crore. The six-lane extradosed prestressed concrete (PSC) bridge connects Guwahati with North Guwahati and is the first extradosed bridge in Northeast India. It will cut travel time between Guwahati and North Guwahati to 7 minutes. Considering the high seismicity of the region, the bridge incorporates base isolation technology using friction pendulum bearings. High-performance stay cables have been used to ensure durability and long-term structural performance. A Bridge Health Monitoring System (BHMS) has also been incorporated for real-time condition monitoring, early damage detection and improved safety and service life for the extradosed bridge.
The Prime Minister will inaugurate the National Data Centre for the North Eastern Region at Amingaon in the Kamrup district. The state-of-the-art Data Centre, with a total sanctioned load of 8.5 MW and an average rack capacity of 10 kW per rack, will host mission-critical applications of various government departments and also function as a disaster recovery centre for other national data centres. This will enable governments in the Northeast to digitally facilitate delivery of essential citizen-centric services. Aligned with the vision of Digital India, the National Data Centre for the North Eastern Region has been envisaged as a strategic intervention to strengthen the region's ICT backbone and ensure robust, secure and always-available digital infrastructure. The Prime Minister will also inaugurate IIM Guwahati, which will give a major fillip to higher education and management education in the Northeastern Region.
The Prime Minister will also flag off 225 electric buses under the PM-eBus Sewa Scheme for Guwahati (100), Nagpur (50), Bhavnagar (50) and Chandigarh (25). With the launch of e-bus operations under the PM-eBus Sewa Scheme in these four cities, more than 50 lakh citizens are expected to benefit from access to clean, affordable, and reliable public transport services, contributing to improved urban mobility and an enhanced quality of life.
In the afternoon, the Prime Minister will attend a meeting with booth-level karyakartas of the BJP at the Veterinary Field at Khanapara, Guwahati. He will then wind up his day-long visit. He was on a two-day visit to the state in January of this year. According to Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma, the Prime Minister is likely to visit Assam again in the first week of March.
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