Skip to content Skip to navigation

Connectivity: Lifeline of Assam

By editor |

The second bridge over the Brahmaputra is part of the East-West corridor, which would connect the North East Region with the rest of the country. At the same time, a high speed highway from Silchar to Srirampur is being constructed in Assam at an investment of Rs 6000 crores.The mighty and sacred river, the Brahmaputra, is the lifeline of the people of Assam. A new bridge over Brahmaputra will serve the people of Assam as well as the States of Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. It will provide a new path towards progress and prosperity. The UPA Government is committed to the rapid development of the North East Region. This project is scheduled to be completed by December 2008. It will reduce the overall travel time and distance between the North East region and rest of India.

Connectivity for Development

he Central Government is also committed to improving the road connectivity between the North Eastern states as well. The Special Accelerated Road Development Programme for the North East will construct new roads and help improve existing roads. It will connect state capitals, district headquarters and remote areas. In the first phase, it will be covering 1310 km of roads by investing Rs 4618 crore.India needs world class roads and bridges. Roads are the arteries of an economy.

Easy connectivity between different regions, between villages and towns, between farms and markets, will ensure spread of prosperity. The country has set a growth target of 9% to 10% over the next decade. It has achieved a growth rate of about 9% in the last two years and in the near future, the economy has the potential of achieving a growth rate in excess of 10%. The other task that needs to be addressed is to ensure that the fruits of this extremely rapid development is evenly spread among all regions and among all sections of society. For this, one needs to improve the condition of our agriculture, increase the employment in industry, and ensure that the youth get more jobs and farmers get higher incomes.

Need to Develop Industries

his is especially true for the North-Eastern region. The agriculture in the state has to improve a great deal. It needs to have more irrigation. It needs to achieve greater productivity. The North East, and particularly Assam, also needs more industries. The people of Assam are hardworking and skilful. However, lack of industries has affected growth of employment opportunities. And poor connectivity has in itself been a cause of poor industrialization. Bridges and highways are the best way to bridge the connectivity gap and enable rapid industrialization of Assam.
What is true for Assam is true for the rest of India as well. The need is greater investment in roads, ports, telecommunication, airports, railways and power. India has one of the largest road networks in the world and the Government has given highest priority to the development of better quality National Highways and construction of rural roads. The UPA Government has launched Bharat Nirman under which investments are made in rural roads, telephones, safe drinking water and electricity in every village.

Improved road connectivity will help in taking agricultural produce to markets and create new possibilities of employment, and reduce poverty. With this objective in view, UPA Government is investing thousands of crores of Rupees in road construction.

Ambitious Programme

The government is planning to implement an ambitious programme of Rs 2,20,000 crores till 2012 for improving the National Highway network. Several stretches will be improved to 4-lane or 6-lane width across the country. Most of these works will be taken up on a Public Private Partnership basis.

The National Highways Authority of India has awarded contracts for four laning of 600 kms of National Highways in Assam. This is the highest rate of road development in this region since the start of National Highways Development Programme.

Assam has now become a major beneficiary of the road programme. When these road projects are completed they will give a big boost to the industrial and agricultural sectors, to tourism and other service sectors in this region. Projects like this bridge across the mighty Brahmaputra will transform the lives and the economy of the region.
Adaptation from the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh’s speech at the laying of the foundation stone for the 2nd Bridge over river Brahmaputra in Guwahati .

(PIB )

  • 22814 reads

Add new comment

Other Contents by Author

Dispur moots RAS to uplift rural areas

Rural administrative service is coming up. Courtesy Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi. Addressing a press conference in Guwahati on Saturday, Gogoi said that to service has been introduced for serving in the rural areas. He said that the new service will recruit candidates for serving in the rural areas to carry forward government schemes and plans specially for the rural areas. He said 30 per cent of the jobs so created will be reserved for rural based candidates who will have to serve in the backward areas for a time-bound period.

Gogoi admits failure to check corruption

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Saturday admitted his utter helplessness to efficiently deal with corruption from government department. Addressing a press conference in Guwahati on Saturday, Gogoi said that corruptions was very much in almost all departments. “We need to check the system to stop corruption," Gogoi said adding that his government is stressing e-governance, RTI Act, decentralization of power and peoples empowerment to check corruption. Gogoi said that he supports any movement against corruption but not the one being undertaken by the IAC.

Couple suicide in Guwahati hotel

In a bizarre incident that sends shockwave across the state, a couple committed suicide in a Guwahati based lodge. Identified as Bipin Saikia and Poppy Saikia were found hanging inside the Capital Lodge in Ganeshguri on Friday evening. The couple hailing from Golaghat had been lodging in the hotel for the last four days. Investigation is going on.

Sarbananda state BJP president

BJP infuses fresh hope in Assam even nearly two and a half years ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. The party on Friday appointed Sarbananda Sonowal as the interim president of the state. According to BJP General Secretary attached to Assam Vijay Goel, Nitin Gadkari has appointed Sonowal as the Assam unit chief after Ranjit Dutta had citing poor health. Sonowal is a former MP from Dibrugarh and a former MLA from Moran seat of Assam. He won both these polls on an AGP ticket. He has also been head of All Assam Student Union.

Steps to tackle flood erosion

The Planning Commission has cleared a huge Rs 14.49 crore flood control scheme for Kamrup Rural district. The project will involve the dyke of the river Brahmaputra river from Gumi to Kalatoli. The entire project would be completed by 2013-14 and Plan accounts will be closed by March 31, 2014. The project will have to be executed as per the approved outlays in the State Annual Plans. The Finance Department will restrict the expenditure to the approved cost and no additional expenditure beyond approved cost will be permitted unless the revised estimate is got approved following the prescribed procedure.

Gogoi hopes end to border row

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi stressed amicable solution of to the simmering border row with Nagaland. He said it to the Assam-Nagaland Goodwill Team when it it visited him on Friday in Guwahati. He told the delegation that both sides sit together and arrive at a mutual understanding. He said that the state has good relations with Nagaland, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh despite border problems. An eight-member team of Assam-Nagaland Goodwill Team said the people of Nagaland want solution to the long festering Assam-Nagaland border amicably and peacefully outside the jurisdiction of the apex court.

India-Yemen football clash halts

The November 18 India-Yemen match in Guwahati was cancelled. According to All India Football Federation, they received an email from the Yemen Football Association that their players' tickets 'were cancelled due to some problems with the airlines.' AIFF vice-president Ankur Dutta and secretary of Assam Football Association, said apart from the national team, this was a big loss for the fans from north-east also. The issue has been reported to the Asian Football Confederation.

Guwahati gears up for car rally

The much-awaited ASEAN car rally will be flagged off from Guwahati on December 17. Kamrup (metro) district administration, GMC, GDD and PWD departments have been asked to spruce up the entire city roads. The rally will kick off from Yogyakarta in Indonesia on November 25. But in the absence of a road link between Indonesia and Singapore, the rally will be given its ceremonial flag-off on November 28 from Singapore. The rally, with 31 SUVs, will cover the ASEAN countries of Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and India. The rally will enter India through the border town of Moreh in Manipur. It will reach Guwahati thorugh Kohima and Dimapur in Nagaland on December 17 from...

Conflict in BTAD, Issue of Influx and Land Alienation in Assam

"Conflict in BTAD, Issue of Influx and Land Alienation in Assam: Problems and Perspectives" Date: November 8, 2012Venue: Mavalanka Auditorium, Constitution Club, Rafi Marg, New Delhi. Where is the end of the conflict? Conflict is ever unwanted but inevitable in the society and its civilization as I understand. Conflict emanates certain course of development and entire world has the more or less similar history. And yet conflicts of certain areas require special focus and understanding in order to reduce the same. Government agencies, NGOs, Civil Society organizations and all others also have achieved very little in conflict resolution despite their honest efforts...

Anna rally in city on Wednesday

Come Wednesday. Anna Hazare will address a national conclave in Guwahati on infiltration. Former army chief Gen VK Singh will also accompany the veteran social activist in the two-day event. Organised by the KMSS, the conclave will chalk out a roadmap to resolve the problems of infiltration from across the Bangladesh border by bringing together various organisations, political parties, leaders, intellectuals and activists on a single platform.