Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday formally inaugurated India’s longest bridge – the 9.15-km bridge connecting Dhola and Sadiya across the Brahmaputra – at Dhola, and named it after the legendary Bhupen Hazarika by saying that the latter was not only born by the great river at Sadiya, but had also sung his entire life to spread the story of the river across the world.
After inaugurating the Rs. 2,056 crore strategic bridge at Sadiya in Assam’s Tinsukia district, Modi walked a short distance over it.
“The bridge will not only save money, reduce travel time but it comes as a foundation for the beginning of a new economic revolution. That’s why the whole nation has its eyes on this bridge”, Modi said here on third anniversary of his government.
“The shortening of distance by 165 km, reducing travel time by 7-8 hours will open new doors to economic development,” he said.
“NE will not be known as North East anymore, but New Engine, for the new engine which will drive India’s economy forward,” says Prime Minister.
“We need to promote timber farming. India imports timber from other countries, but we should be growing it locally. Farmers should also use solar energy to power their own fields. This will make them self-sufficient and insulate them from external factors,” he added.
Modi, who took a walk on the new bridge, first alone and then with Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari and state governor Banwarilal Purohit, after a drive to the other end, however did not forget to take a dig at the Congress for the delay in its completion.
“It was our then MLA Jagadish Bhuyan who wrote the first letter to the government in May 2003 for a bridge here. Immediately afterwards the Atal Behari Vajpayee ordered its feasibility study. Had the Vajpayee government come to power again in 2004, and had Congress not wasted 10 years in between chanting hoti hei and chalti hei, this bridge would have come up ten years ago and the people’s dreams would have continued to remain as dreams,” Modi said.
He also claimed that while projects were not moving and funds were not being spent in 15-20 years in the Northeast, the present government has begun completing them in two to three years.
“If development is to be made permanent, then infrastructure is the first requirement. It is on the two tracks of physical infrastructure and social infrastructure that complete development is achieved,” PM Modi said.
