New Delhi, February 13 Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Assam on Saturday, beginning his visit at the Emergency Landing Facility (ELF) near Dibrugarh, the first of its kind in the Northeast.
The aircraft carrying the prime minister will land at the ELF on Moran Bypass in Dibrugarh, where he will witness the aerial display of fighter jets, transport aircraft, and helicopters.
Later, Modi will travel to Guwahati, where he will visit the Kumar Bhaskar Varma Setu across the Brahmaputra River and inaugurate and flag off various projects worth more than Rs 5,450 crore at Lachit Ghat.
The ELF has been specially designed and constructed in coordination with the Indian Air Force to support the landing and take-off of military and civil aircraft during emergencies.
It will serve as a critical asset for emergency response, enabling quick deployment of rescue and relief operations during natural disasters or strategic requirements in the Northeast.
Envisioned as dual-use infrastructure, the ELF is capable of handling fighter aircraft up to 40 tonnes and transport aircraft with a maximum take-off weight of up to 74 tonnes.
The prime minister will inaugurate several key projects aimed at accelerating connectivity, strengthening digital infrastructure, promoting higher education, and enhancing public transport, thereby giving a significant boost to development in the northeastern region.
Modi will inaugurate the Kumar Bhaskar Varma Setu across the Brahmaputra River, built at a cost of around Rs 3,030 crore. The six-lane extradosed prestressed concrete (PSC) bridge connects Guwahati with North Guwahati and is the first such bridge in the Northeast. It is expected to reduce travel time between the two areas to about seven minutes.
Given the high seismic activity in the region, the bridge incorporates base isolation technology using friction pendulum bearings. High-performance stay cables have been used to ensure durability and long-term structural performance.
A Bridge Health Monitoring System (BHMS) has also been incorporated for real-time condition monitoring, early damage detection, and improved safety and service life of the extradosed bridge.
Modi will also inaugurate the National Data Centre for the northeastern region at Amingaon in Kamrup district of Assam.
The state-of-the-art facility, with a total sanctioned load of 8.5 MW and an average rack capacity of 10 kW per rack, will host mission-critical applications of various government departments and also function as a Disaster Recovery centre for other National Data Centres.
This will enable governments in the Northeast to digitally facilitate the delivery of essential citizen-centric services.
Aligned with the vision of Digital India, the centre has been envisaged as a strategic intervention to strengthen the region's ICT backbone and ensure robust, secure, and always-available digital infrastructure.
In addition, Modi will inaugurate IIM-Guwahati, which will give a major fillip to higher education and management education in the northeastern region.
He will also flag off 225 electric buses under the PM-eBus Sewa Scheme in Guwahati (100), Nagpur (50), Bhavnagar (50), and Chandigarh (25).
With the launch of e-bus operations under the PM-eBus Sewa Scheme in these four cities, more than 50 lakh citizens are expected to benefit through access to clean, affordable, and reliable public transport services, contributing to improved urban mobility and enhanced quality of life.