Bhupen Hazarika Setu launched by Modi today to help Army keep China at bay

The Dhola-Sadiya Bridge on the Brahmapurta in Assam will be the longest bridge in India over a river

The Dhola-Sadiya Bridge, the country's longest river bridge, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Assam on Friday, will provide a big boost to the Indian Army as it protects the nation's Northeast region against China. 

According to a Bloomberg report, the bridge, spanning 9.2 km across the Brahmaputra River, will ensure the smooth movement of troops to Arunachal Pradesh, one of India’s most remote regions that is claimed in full by China. The bridge, according to news agency ANI, will be named the Bhupen Hazarika Setu. 

Speaking to Bloomberg, K V Kuber, an independent defence analyst and former colonel in the Indian Army, said, "The bridge across the Brahmaputra into Arunachal Pradesh is a great strategic shift in the thinking in the Indian defence establishment regarding infrastructure development in the borders with China.” 

“The new infrastructure will help the Indian military to be prepared for a decent rebuttal to ward off any misadventure from the Chinese side,” Kuber added. 

The Rs 2,056-crore strategic bridge at Sadiya in Assam's Tinsukia district, which PM Modi inaugurated even as he completes three years in office, will provide an important boost to the logistics capability of the military along the Indo-China border.  

The move comes after India, for more than five decades, has ignored the roads along its 4,056 kilometre-long (2,520 mile) disputed border with China. According to Bloomberg, the logic behind the neglect was simple: India didn’t want to give Chinese troops an easy path if Beijing ever tried to repeat the brief 1962 border war and encroach into the territory India sees as its own.

With the inauguration of this bridge, all that has changed.

“India has to be prepared for a short, intense war in the years to come and movement of resources from one sector to another — depending on the threat envisaged — is of utmost importance to the Indian armed forces,” S K Chatterji, an independent defence analyst and a former brigadier in the Indian Army, told Bloomberg. “This bridge on the Brahmaputra will help India to quickly move resources, including military weapons and equipment at will, to the borders with China along Arunachal Pradesh,” added Chatterji.

In Arunachal Pradesh, which China considers South Tibet, India will follow the bridge over the Brahmaputra by building a 2,000-km highway in the state at a cost of $6 billion, the report added.

The bridge is a 12.9-metre-wide external post-tensioned design. It has 183 spans, each of 50 meters, along with a two-lane connecting road from Dhola Bazaar to Islampur Tiniali.

According to reports, crossing over to Sadiya near the Lohit border in Arunachal, will now take 30 minutes, reducing the travel time by four hours.

The other benefits of the bridge are as follows:

• The bridge will be one of the vital links in this region which will not only provide relief to the existing transport network but also invite various developmental activities. Increased developmental activities will also increase vehicular movement in the region

• It will result in facilitating marketable surplus and checking price distortion, which in turn will enhance production activities

• It will expedite industrial investments

• It will provide access to health and educational facilities

• It will promote tourism in the region

• It will lead to an increase in border trade between Arunachal and other ASEAN countries

With inputs from agencies