GUWAHATI: BJP legislator Prasanta Phukan has proposed that India’s longest road-cum-rail Bogibeel bridge in Assam’s Dibrugarh district should be named after Atal Bihari Vajpayee as a tribute to the former prime minister who inaugurated the construction works of the bridge in 2002.

“I will soon write to chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal to take up with the Centre to name Bogibeel bridge after Atal ji. My proposal is that the bridge should be named Atal Setu. It is a matter of great proud for us that Atal ji has given the push to the construction of Bogibeel bridge which is a national project. It will be the befitting way to pay our respect to the great statesman,” Phukan, who represents the Dibrugarh assembly seat, told TOI on Friday.

Phukan also proposed that the bridge should be inaugurated on December 25, coinciding with the birth anniversary of the former prime minister.

The construction of 4.94 km long bridge over the Brahmaputra is expected to be completed by the end of this year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to inaugurate the mega project.

Once completed, the bridge will connect Dibrugarh district in Assam with Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh. The bridge, with three-lane roads on top and double line rail below, is one of the strategically important infrastructures that will significantly improve the logistical supplies especially for the armed forces in Arunachal Pradesh which shares the border with China.

