Assam gratefully remembers former PM Vajpayee

  • | Saturday | 18th August, 2018

It is a matter of great pride for us that Atalji had given the push to start construction work. Once completed, the bridge will connect Dibrugarh district in Assam with Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh. In his speech in Dibrugarh, Vajpayee had asked then railway board chairman IIMS Rana to complete the bridge in six years (2008) in place of the original deadline of 2009. We would have been happy had the bridge been completed in his lifetime," the MLA said while paying tribute to Vajpayee at the party office in Dibrugarh. "I will soon write to chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal to take up the issue with the Centre.

GUWAHATI/DIBRUGARH: Assam BJP legislator Prasanta Phukan has proposed that India's longest road-cum-rail bridge (Bogibeel) coming up in Dibrugarh district be named after Atal Bihari Vajpayee as a mark of respect to the former PM who kickstarted construction work of the bridge way back in 2002."I will soon write to chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal to take up the issue with the Centre. The bridge should be named as Atal Setu. It is a matter of great pride for us that Atalji had given the push to start construction work. It will be a fitting tribute to the great statesman," Phukan, who represents the Dibrugarh assembly seat, told TOI on Friday.He added that the bridge should be inaugurated on December 25, coinciding with Vajpayee's birth anniversary .The construction of the 4.94-km-long bridge on the Brahmaputra is expected to be completed by the end of this year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to inaugurate it. Once completed, the bridge will connect Dibrugarh district in Assam with Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh. The bridge, with three-lane roads on top and double-line rail tracks below, will significantly improve logistical supplies, especially for the armed forces in Arunachal Pradesh that borders China.Sixteen years ago on April 21, 2002, Vajpayee had kickstarted construction work of the bridge. In his speech in Dibrugarh, Vajpayee had asked then railway board chairman IIMS Rana to complete the bridge in six years (2008) in place of the original deadline of 2009. Also present on the historic ocasion were then Union railways Minister Nitish Kumar, Union MoS for railways Digvijay Singh, Union MoS for transport and highways BC Khanduri, Assam governor Lt-Gen (retd) SK Sinha and Tarun Gogoi.The project was approved by the Centre in 1996 as part of several infrastructure projects earmarked for the state under the Assam Accord of 1985. HD Deve Gowda, then PM, had laid the foundation of the bridge in 1996.Recalling Vajpayee's attachment with the people of the northeast, Phukan said the demise of the former PM has created a vacuum in the country. "He shared a special relationship with the people of the northeast and set up the DoNER ministry for the development of the region. He was instrumental in connecting the region through the East-West corridor road project. We would have been happy had the bridge been completed in his lifetime," the MLA said while paying tribute to Vajpayee at the party office in Dibrugarh.

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