Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Kumar Bhaskar Varma Setu and several other significant projects in Guwahati. The bridge, costing Rs 3,030 crore, spans six lanes over the Brahmaputra river, linking Guwahati with North Guwahati. Present at the inauguration were Assam Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya and Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. Following the event, PM Modi walked across the bridge, which is currently only open to pedestrians, with vehicular traffic set to commence on March 1.
Notably, this bridge is the first extradosed bridge in Northeast India, designed to reduce the travel time between Guwahati and North Guwahati to just seven minutes. Given the region’s high seismic activity, it features advanced base isolation technology using friction pendulum bearings and high-performance stay cables for enhanced durability and structural integrity. Additionally, a Bridge Health Monitoring System (BHMS) has been implemented to provide real-time monitoring for early damage detection and to improve safety and the bridge’s overall service life.
In addition to the bridge, PM Modi inaugurated the National Data Centre for the Northeastern region located at Amingaon, along with the temporary campus of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Guwahati. The state-of-the-art Data Centre is equipped with a sanctioned load of 8.5 MW and an average capacity of 10 kW per rack. It is intended to support mission-critical applications for various government departments and will also serve as a Disaster Recovery centre for other National Data Centres.
Furthermore, Modi announced the rollout of 225 electric buses under the PM-eBus Sewa Scheme, benefiting over 50 lakh citizens by enhancing public transport in Guwahati, Nagpur, Bhavnagar, and Chandigarh. He concluded his day in Assam by addressing a BJP rally at Khanapara in Guwahati.
