Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Tuesday instructed Dibrugarh deputy commissioner Laya Madduri and Dhemaji deputy commissioner Roshni Aparanji Korati to make necessary arrangements for smooth conduct of the inauguration programme of Bogibeel project.

He inspected the Bogibeel bridge ahead of its scheduled inauguration on December 25 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Sonowal crossed the 4.94-km long bridge from the Brahmaputra south bank to north bank and took stock of the progress of the bridge, which is almost complete. He inspected Modi’s rally venue that will be held on the north bank. He inspected the venue of the two temporary helipads that will be constructed in view of Modi’s visit.

The opening of the bridge will break the communication bottleneck between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.

Sonowal participated in a two-hour-long meeting with senior Northeast Frontier Railway officials, top police officials and department heads where every aspect of Modi’s visit was discussed. More than 1 lakh people from both the north bank and south bank districts and Arunachal Pradesh are expected to attend the programme.

“It will be a historic day for the people of Assam and fulfillment of a long-cherished dream. The bridge will revolutionise the economy of the region in a major way,” Sonowal said.

Situated 17km downstream of Dibrugarh, Bogibeel bridge is the fourth bridge over the Brahmaputra that will connect Dibrugarh and Dhemaji districts. The foundation stone of the bridge was laid almost 21 years ago by the then Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda on January 22, 1997. On April 21, 2002, then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee inaugurated the construction work of the project.

Because of revised deadlines, the project cost had already shot up from the initial Rs 1,767 crore to Rs 5,800 crore. Having already missed several deadlines over the years, the bridge has earned the tag of the slowest moving infrastructure project in the Northeast.

“We are happy that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the bridge. We hope the bridge will usher in a new communication network between the two districts,” a railway official said.

Sarbananda Sonowal takes stock of the work at Bogibeel bridge in Dibrugarh on Tuesday. Picture by UB Photos