Bogibeel rail-cum-road bridge to be completed by 2017: Sonowal

From our Staff Correspondent

DIBRUGARH, MAY 3: “The Bogibeel Rail-cum-Road bridge which connects Dibrugarh and north bank of the Brahmaputra is scheduled to be completed by 2017,” said Union Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs (Independent), Sarbanda Sonowal while taking part at an interactive session with the students of various universities of the North East at Dibrugarh University (DU). The session was organized on the second day of North Eastern Inter University Convention (NEIUC), held under the aegis of DU Post Graduate Students’ Union (DUPGSU) at Rangghar Auditorium.  Sonowal said that the Union Government had put more emphasis on development of road, rail and water communication which the government felt was a basic criteria of faster development and progress of a particular region. He also disclosed that all total 14 rivers of the Brahmaputra Valley were being selected for the development of water transport system in the state. Answering a query of a student, Sonowal who was an alumnus of DU categorically stated that he would initiate all measures with the respective ministries and explore all possible steps so that DU  would get the status of a Central University. “As an alumnus of the university, I will do everything to get DU the status of Central University, but the university, so far I know, has to fulfil some criteria,” the minister said.

Sonowal, however, reserved his comment on the big river dam issue because a high-level expert committee, constituted at tripartite talks with the Union Government, was examining all aspects of the big dams. “It will be premature to comment on the subject until we get reports from the committee,” said the Union Minister.

The Union Sports and Youth Affairs Minister while answering an another query, stated that to make the State free from foreign tiols, the Union Government had  given a substantial  amount to the State Government for ensuring a full-fledged tiol Register of Citizens (NRC ) in a specific period.

“The Union Government, if necessary, will provide more funds to complete NRC in schedule time,” he said.

Further he clarified that the completion of NRC within the scheduled time would depend entirely on the State Government. Answering on land swapping deal with Bangladesh, Sonowal categorically stated that the Union Government, honoring public sentiments on the issue, had decided not to hand over the proposed land of the State to Bangladesh. Earlier, the Vice-Chancellor of DU, Dr Alak Kumar Bura Gohain formally released  the souvenir Monorath edited by Lakhyajit Gohain and Nitin Lahkar.