GUWAHATI, Feb 23 - Union Minister and State BJP president Sarbananda Sonowal today stressed on the importance of connectivity to boost development in Assam and disclosed that the long-delayed Bogibeel project will be completed by 2017 and a sum of Rs 500 crore has been sanctioned to speed up the project work.
Addressing mediapersons here, the Minister said that the Central Government is laying emphasis on connectivity as it is the basis of development.
�BJP is planning to make Assam one of the strongest and most prosperous State of India,� he said, mentioning that in the last 18 months the Union Government has given a lot of priority to the North East and many massive projects have been launched within a small span of time.
He even named a few pending projects which had been stalled during the UPA regime and were completed and became operational under the present NDA Government, like direct rail connectivity from Jonai to Guwahati, Jonai to Tezpur, Silchar to Kolkata, Silchar to Delhi, Silchar to Guwahati, setting of double track in Lumding, and so on.
Sonowal informed that the Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari will be visiting the State on February 27 to boost up connectivity and development.
It needs to be mentioned that the Union Transport Minister will inaugurate the National Highway Bypass at Moran, and subsequently announce construction of a bridge connecting Dhakuakhana and Disangmukh, declare a national highway connecting Disangmukh via Lakhimpur to Kamalabari, lay the foundation stone for a bridge connecting Jorhat and Majuli, and also lay the foundation stone of a 4-lane highway between Nagaon and Rangapara and a Ship Repairing Centre at Pandu.
Sarbananda Sonowal called for speeding up development on both sides of the Brahmaputra and urged the people to cooperate and support the Government in order to complete the projects. Sonowal also appealed to Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi to provide immediate relief to the storm-affected people of Sadiya, Doomdooma and Digboi.
On the other hand, referring to the issue of AIUDF supremo Badruddin Ajmal offering support to senior Congress leader Abdul Muhib Majumdar for the upcoming Rajya Sabha election, Sonowal said that Congress and AIUDF have been supporting each other and working together and all the verbal duels between the two parties is just an attempt to grab media attention.
Sonowal also accused Ajmal of not knowing the history of Assam and the contribution of the indigenous Muslims to the State of Assam. The leader affirmed that the BJP Government will provide security to all the citizens of the State.
Taking a dig at the Congress, the leader stated that, had there been any development in the past 15 years then the Congress would not have resorted to putting up hoardings and wasting public money in the name of advertisements.
