PM: Correcting historical neglect of Assam, N-East

New Delhi, February 18

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said his government was correcting the historical neglect of Assam and the northeast and fast tracking infrastructure projects lying dormant for years.

Launching the Mahabahu-Brahmaputra initiative to improve connectivity of the northeast, the PM today laid the foundation stone of India’s longest bridge (19 km), virtually.

The bridge will connect Dhubri in Assam to Phulbari in Meghalaya. The PM also took part in the ground-breaking ceremony of a two-laned Maujli bridge to connect Maujli to Jorhat in Assam.

He said the four-laned bridge would run across the Brahmaputra river from Assam to Meghalaya. The project was felt necessary after a boat carrying 350 persons capsized in the Brahmaputra in 2012. The PM said currently it takes two and a half hours to cross the river for people travelling from Dhubri to Phulbari and the bridge would cut a distance of 250 km to 19 km. — TNS