Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated India's longest rail-cum-road bridge, the Bogibeel Bridge over the Brahmaputra river in Assam on Tuesday.
The bridge at Bogibeel near Dibrugarh, has a two-line railway track on the lower deck and a three-lane road on the top deck. It stretches across 4.9 km and will connect the Dibrugarh and Dhemaji districts, bordering Arunachal Pradesh.
It cuts the distance between Dibrugarh in Assam and Naharlagun in Arunachal Pradesh to below 200 km from 700 km, giving much-needed connectivity to the far-flung northeastern states. With its proximity to the China border, the bridge also has a tremendous significance for the nation's defence.
The engineering marvel cost about Rs 5,900 crore and is the nation's only fully-welded bridge built using European codes and welding standards. It is also Asia's second longest rail-and-road connector and has a lifespan of around 120 years.
Inaugurating the bridge, Prime Minister Modi said it would have been ready by 2008-09 if former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had won a second term.
"We have changed the earlier 'latkane bhatkane' (dilly-dallying) work culture," said PM Modi, taking a snipe at the previous Congress-led UPA government while addressing a rally, "Completion of projects within a time frame is no longer confined to paper but has become a truth. After Vajpayee's government, no attention was paid to the project until 2014."
The PM asserted that the connector will "strengthen" the country's defence. "It will serve as a lifeline for crores of people," he said.
He also flaged off the Tinsukia-Naharlagun Intercity Express, which will run five days a week on the bridge and cut down the travel time between Tinsukia in Assam and Naharlagun in Arunachal Pradesh by more than 10 hours.
A ROAD READY FOR WAR
- Located 20 kms from China border, bridge can carry war tanks and withstand 7 Richter scale tremors
- As a rail-and-road bridge, it will help send troops and war supplies swiftly to Indo-China border
- Cuts time distance between Dibrugarh (Assam) and Naharlagun (Arunachal Pradesh) from 700 km to 200 km
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