A bridge has become an unusual issue in a polarised part of Assam
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AIUDF chief says he initiated the project whose foundation stone Modi laid in February
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Border Security Force (BSF) personnel keep up vigil along the Indo-Bangladesh international border in Dhubri district of Assam. File
| Photo Credit:
Ritu Raj Konwar
AIUDF chief says he initiated the project whose foundation stone Modi laid in February
A bridge to be India’s longest has become an unusual issue in a polarised part of Assam often synonymous with “illegal immigrants”.
Electoral politics in Assam since the 1970s has invariably been spun around the narrative of ‘Bangladeshis’ threatening to take over the State. Western Assam’s Dhubri district, from which South Salmara-Mankachar district was carved out in 2016, has been the peg of this storyline.
A visit to Zero Point has become almost a daily ritual for 50-year-old Aminur Rahman.
This is the site in Adabari Part 2, about 4km off Dhubri town, where India’s longest river bridge stretching 19.03 km is to come up by 2028 and connect Dhubri in Assam with Phulbari in Meghalaya across the Brahmaputra.
Work began at the site shortly before Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the bridge through videoconferencing on February 18, just 37 days ahead of the start of the three-phase Assam elections on March 27.
Residents’ faces here light up at any mention of the under-construction bridge, which has generated much more excitement and hope than the ongoing election.
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PM Modi to address rally in Assam s Karimganj today, first since EC announced poll dates
PM Modi to address rally in Assam s Karimganj today, first since EC announced poll dates
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (Photo: PTI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address an election rally in Assam s Karimganj district today. This will be his first rally in poll-bound Assam after the Election Commission of India announced election schedule for the state late last month.
Phuloni (Assam) [India], February 18 (ANI): Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said that the Dhubri-Phulbari bridge will reduce the distance between the two places by 203 kilometres.
He was addressing a gathering in Assam s Phuloni at the foundation stone laying ceremony of a bridge over the Brahmaputra river between Dhubri in Assam and Phulbari in Meghalaya. Demand for a bridge over river Brahmaputra, between Dhubri, Assam and Phulbari, Meghalaya is 10 years old. With this, the distance between Dhubri and Phulbari will be shortened by 203 kilometres, said Gadkari, who is Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.