India begins eastern push through bridges, roads

Ajay Banerjee in New Delhi

IN April 2012, MM Pallam Raju, then Minister of State for Defence in the Manmohan Singh Cabinet, was to open a bridge connecting Dirang and Lohit valley in Arunachal Pradesh. Bad weather prevented his Mi-17 military helicopter from taking off from Tezu in far-eastern part of Arunachal Pradesh.

The nearest available road bridge was 500 km away at Tezpur, Assam. Three more bridges between Tezu and Tezpur across the Brahmaputra and the Lohit, were then under construction. Left with no option, Raju used the river ferry to cross the Lohit at Alubhari Ghat to reach his destination, at least five hours behind schedule.

Things have changed, and will change further over the next five years: military positioning and movement in Arunachal will improve like never before. India has already strengthened its military presence in the eastern front: the Mountain Strike Corps (with 90,000 men) has come up with its headquarters in Panagarh (West Bengal) and most of the latest US-supplied ultra-light Howitzers M777 are going to be stationed there, defence experts say. 

Of the three bridges which were under construction in April 2012, the one at Alubhari Ghat opened in January this year; the second at Sadiya-Dhola, the longest bridge in the country, will be opened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 26. The last one, the ‘Bogibeel’ road-rail bridge combo, will open early next year to connect Dibrugarh in Assam with Arunachal Pradesh. The fourth such crucial link bridge at the Brahma Kund, south-east of Tezu opened in 2006. 

These bridges are under the operational area of the Army’s 3 Corps. Two separate road projects, the trans-Arunachal highway and other inter-valley connectivity project, will provide the Army with the flexibility to move men and heavy weapons at short notice from the southern bank of the Brahmaputra to the northern side.

Lt Gen SL Narasimhan (retd), who headed the 3 Corps and is now a member of the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) explains: “The new bridge at Saidya-Dhola will cut short the time taken to reach the Northern side of the river. This along with the ‘Bogibeel Bridge’ near Dibrugarh will help greatly in our operations.”

Both bridges will have separate military importance and utility, says a serving Colonel who was involved in planning of these bridges and roads. The inter-valley road connectivity will be for tactical moves at the local level while the trans-Arunachal highway coupled with the linkages provided by these bridges will form the ‘bigger picture,’ said the officer.

These bridges and roads in Arunachal will mean deployment patterns can be altered at short notice. For instance, if troops have to move from Dimapur in Nagaland towards north of the Brahmaputra, it’s a 300 km detour. Tanks and heavy equipment cannot cross the river by boats. It also means that men and equipment stationed south and east of Jorhat (200 east of Tezpur) cannot move rapidly. The bridges will change all that.

British Army officer Lt. Col. FM Bailey, who authored the well-acknowledged book ‘No Passport to Tibet’ led an expedition to the Dibang valley, the same one to be serviced by the new bridge at Sadiya-Dhola. Lt Col Bailey and his team in 1913 travelled on foot among hostile tribes and reached a village Ilupu, below the present-day Anini, where the ITBP now has a unit.

The new bridge will also provide a new axis to reach Anini and also shorten the road journey to Walong, located further east of Anini and separated by a mountain range. It was the site for one of the pitched battles in the 1962 war with China.