Former Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Nabam Tuki has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to inaugurate the Bogibeel bride on the Brahmaputra river in Assam on Christmas day.
Mr. Modi is scheduled to inaugurate Bogibeel, India’s longest rail and road bridge at 4.94 km, on December 25, also the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The Modi government observes December 25 as 'Good Governance Day'.
In a letter addressed to the Prime Minister, Mr. Tuki wrote: “We are aware that you will be inaugurating the Bogibeel bridge over the Brahmaputra on December 25. While I congratulate you for seeing to the completion of this historic bridge, which is of strategic and economic importance to the region, I would at the same time like to request you to kindly defer the said inauguration to any other date as December 25 is Christmas and one of the most important festivals of Christians... A large number of people will be deprived of participation if the inauguration is done on the 25th.”
Highway blockade
Thursday also saw several organisations belonging to the Tai-Ahom community block National Highway-37 in Dibrugarh district to press for naming the Bogibeel bridge after Swargadeo (emperor) Chaolung Siu-ka-pha, the founder of the Ahom dynasty that ruled Assam for 600 years. The bridge connects Dibrugarh district on the southern bank of the Brahmaputra and Dhemaji district on the opposite bank.
