Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the groundbreaking and groundbreaking ceremony for various projects in Kochi. (File photo)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the ‘Mahabahu-Brahmaputra’, lay the foundation stone of the Dhubri Phulbari Bridge and present Bhumi Pujan for the construction of the Majuli Assam Bridge on February 18, 2021 via video conference. The Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, the Ministry of Health of Ports, Navigation and Inland Waterways and the Chief Minister of Assam will be present at the occasion.
Mahabahu-Brahmaputra
The launch of Mahabahu-Brahmaputra will be marked by the inauguration of the Ro-Pax vessel operations between Neamati-Majuli Island, North Guwahati-South Guwahati and Dhubri-Hatsingimari; Shilanyas of Inland Water Transport (IWT) Terminal in Jogighopa and several tourist piers on the Brahmaputra river and launch of digital solutions for Ease-of-Doing-Business. The program aims to provide seamless connectivity to the eastern parts of India and includes various development activities for the people living around the Brahmaputra River and the Barak River.
Ro-Pax services will help reduce travel time by providing connectivity between banks and thus reducing the distance traveled by road. The Ro-Pax operation between Neamati and Majuli will reduce the total distance of 420 km currently traveled by vehicles to only 12 km, which will result in a substantial impact on the logistics of small industries in the region. Two locally procured Ro-Pax vessels, namely MV Rani Gaidinliu and MV Sachin Dev Burman, will go into operation. The introduction of the Ro-Pax MV JFR Jacob vessel between North and South Guwahati will reduce the travel distance from around 40 km to just 3 km. The introduction of MV Bob Khathing between Dhubri and Hatsingimari will reduce the travel distance from 220km to 28km, resulting in great savings in distance and travel time.
The program also includes shilanyas for the construction of tourist piers in four locations, namely Neamati, Biswanath Ghat, Pandu and Jogighopa with the financial assistance of 9.41 million rupees from the Ministry of Tourism. These piers will promote river cruise tourism, generate local employment, and also generate growth for local businesses.
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Under the program, a permanent river transport terminal will also be built in Jogighopa, connecting with the multimodal logistics park that is also located in Jogighopa. This terminal will help reduce traffic on the Siliguri Corridor to Kolkata and Haldia. It will also facilitate the uninterrupted movement of cargo even during the flood season to various northeastern states such as Meghalaya and Tripura and also to Bhutan and Bangladesh.
The prime minister will also launch two electronic portals to promote ease of doing business. The Car-D (Cargo Data) portal will collect cargo and cruise data in real time. PANI (Navigation and Assets Information Portal) will act as a comprehensive solution to provide information on navigation and river infrastructure.
Dhubri Phulbari Bridge
PM Modi will lay the foundation stone for the four-lane bridge over the Brahmaputra between Dhubri (on the North Bank) and Phulbari (on the South Bank). The proposed bridge will be located on NH-127B, originating from Srirampur on NH-27 (East-West Corridor) and ending at Nongstoin on NH-106 in Meghalaya State. It will connect Dhubri in Assam with Phulbari, Tura, Rongram and Rongjeng in Meghalaya.
The bridge, which will be built at a total cost of approximately Rs 4997 million, will meet the long-standing demand of the people of Assam and Meghalaya who relied on ferry services to travel between the two banks of the river. It will reduce the distance from 205 km to be traveled by road to 19 km, which is the total length of the bridge.
Majuli Bridge
The prime minister will also perform Bhumi Pujan for the two-lane bridge on the Brahmaputra between Majuli (North Bank) and Jorhat (South Bank).
The bridge will be located on NH-715K and will connect Neematighat (on the Jorhat side) and Kamalabari (on the Majuli side). The construction of the bridge has been a long-standing demand from the Majuli people who for generations have relied on ferry services to connect to the mainland of Assam.
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She is a freelance blogger, writer, and speaker, and writes for various entertainment magazines.