Govt plans 15-km long tunnel on Brahmaputra River

The Assam government has decided to build a strategic tunnel under the Brahmaputra river in Assam for unhindered movement of military vehicles. The tunnel would be located on the upstream of the river near Tezpur in Assam, connecting north and south banks. The 12-15 km tunnel may have both rail and road networks, depending on construction possibilities and gradients. The bridges connecting different areas in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh and along the Line of Actual Control with China are vulnerable to interference by the northern neighbor, and the tunnel would ensure complete protection to military convoys. As depth and course of the Brahmaputra keep changing, the most likely option is to construct the tunnel under the river bed. A DPR is yet to be conducted, but a map survey has been done.Since the Brahmaputra is the main obstacle to troop movement from south to north banks and further towards Arunachal, the tunnel will ensure unhindered connectivity to RALP (‘Rest of Arunachal Pradesh’ in Army parlance).