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Let the maestro live in bridge

Patriotic People’s Front Assam (PPFA) proposes the Dhola-Sadiya bridge over Lohit, a major tributary of Brahmaputra river, to be named after legendary personality Dr Bhupen Hazarika. The 9.16 km bridge, connecting Assam with Arunachal Pradesh, is scheduled to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 26 May. Termed as India’s longest bridge, constructed with rupees 950 crore budget, is expected to change the lives of thousands families in northeast India. Moreover, it is understood to fulfill a vital requirement in terms of India’s defence perspective as it is only 100 km away from the McMahon Line separating India with Tibet (now occupied by China).

The locality in southern Arunachal was also occupied by the aggressive Chinese forces along with few areas of Assam in 1962 Indo-China war before they were chased away by New Delhi with the help of the then nuclear power America’s inherent support.

“Dr Hazarika visited the Kameng locality soon after the Chinese aggression and created his eternal song ‘Aji Kameng Simanta Dekhilo-----’ to pay homage to the soldiers who sacrificed their lives in the war. The legendary musician with an immortal voice also proposed for an energetic and watchful force at the border with China,” said a statement issued by PPFA.

The forum also argued that Bhupen da (as millions of Dr Hazarika’s fans prefer to call him) was born at Sadiya and he made the first film titled ‘Meri Dharam Meri Maa’ of the frontier State. The cultural icon can be identified as a man of assimilation who connected various big & small communities of the region like a golden thread. The PPFA urged both the governments at Dispur and New Delhi to review various aspects while naming the bridge in far eastern part of the country and finally appealed to the people of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh to come out with an aim to take the opportunity to honour a legend of our time.

Endorsed by Rupam Barua, Natwar Thakkar, Wahid Saleh, Arvind Phukan, Chandan Mozumder, Rajen Barua, Ravindra Nath, Bidhayak Das, Jagadindra Raichoudhury, Pramod Kalita, Anup Sarma, Zakir Hussain, Oken Jeet Sandham, Pradip Kumar Sarma, Nayan Jyoti Baruah, Rubee Das, Hiranya Kumar Barman, Sabyasachi Sharma, Digonta Buragohain, Utpal Mena, Bhuban Saikia, Rasel Hussain, Kabita Bharali Moni, Dayal Krishna Nath, Biju Kumar, Anjana Dutta, Ranjita Rabha, Aditi Chakravarty, Purabi Baruah, Sabah Ahmed, Deepak Parvatiyar, Hemanta Nath, Partha Sarathi Das, Gargi Talukdar, Sampriti Saikia, Indranil Kalita, Monalisa Mahanta, Uddipana Goswami, Tarali Chakrabarty, Azlina Khanam, Sewali Kalita, Ghameswar Kalita, Tinat Atifa Masood, Irfan Khondker, Nilima T Haque, Samya Bharadwaj, Sonit Kumar Goswami, Rahul Sarma, Barnali Kalita, Afruja Akhtar, Manoj Khandelwal, Khanindra Kr Deka etc.

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Assam Times Staff. editor@assamtimes.org

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