DISPUR: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch Mahabahu-Brahmaputra, lay the foundation stone of Dhubri-Phulbari Bridge and perform Bhoomi Poojan for construction of Majuli Bridge in Assam today through video conferencing. Narendra Modi remarked in his tweet that it is a landmark day for development journey of Assam because the Mahabahu-Brahmaputra initiative will be launched.
Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India; Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways; Dr Jitendra Singh, Minister of Development of North Eastern Region; Sarbananda Sonowal, Chief Minister of Assam; and Conrad K Sangma, Chief Minister of Meghalaya, will be present at the occasion. This event is aiming to give a much needed boost to connectivity for the large number of people in Assam and Meghalaya.
The launch of Mahabahu-Brahmaputra is to be marked by the inauguration of the Ro-Pax vessel operations between Neematighat and Majuli, North and South Guwahati and Dhubri-Hatsingimari. In order to boost employment and tourism, it is set to include shilanyas for construction of tourist jetties at four locations. The programme has been designed to provide seamless connectivity to the eastern parts of India. It will also include various development activities for the people living around River Brahmaputra and River Barak. The Ro-Pax services, by providing connectivity between banks, will help in reducing the time taken in travel and thus reduce the distance to be travelled by road.
The Prime Minister will also lay the foundation stone of the longest river bridge in India. The bridge will be built over the Brahmaputra river between Dhubri in Assam and Phulbari in Meghalaya. The bridge planned will be 19 kilometers long with 4 lanes, and will thus reduce the distance of 205 km to be travelled by road to 19 km only. Narendra Modi will also perform Bhumi-pujan for the much awaited 8 km long Jorhat-Majuli Bridge today, which will connect river island Majuli with mainland Assam.