‘Tunnels under Brahmaputra will help during war’

The army has proposed English Channel-like tunnels under river Brahmaputra, less than a week before Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveils India’s longest bridge in Assam.

This is because enemies invariably target strategic bridges – the 9.15 km Dhola-Sadiya bridge that Modi is scheduled to inaugurate on May 26 is one – in a bid to snap communication and disrupt the movement of troops, supplies and big guns.

India’s ties with some neighbouring countries, particularly Pakistan, have been strained in recent times with Air Chief Marshall BS Dhanoa having told IAF officers to be combat-ready.

“During wars, bridges are the first targets. We could do with tunnels under the Brahmaputra that virtually divides much of the Northeast into equal halves,” Lt Gen DS Ahuja, commanding officer of an army set-up in Shillong, said at a two-day road show of the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) on Monday.

He suggested a tunnel each near Guwahati and Dibrugarh.

“The tunnels came up during an informal discussion and it might be taken forward,” said Naveen Verma, secretary of the Department of North Eastern Region.

There are three bridges across the Brahmaputra while a fourth and the easternmost – Bogibeel – is under construction. Further east, the Dhola-Sadiya bridge is across Lohit, one of three rivers that form the Brahmaputra.