Which one of the following States will be directly connected with Assam by the proposed bridge between Dhubri and Phulbari over river Brahmaputra ?

Correct — B, (b) Meghalaya. Dhubri is the westernmost district town of Assam on the Brahmaputra, close to the point where the river turns south and leaves India for Bangladesh. Phulbari lies on the other bank, in the West Garo Hills of Meghalaya. The bridge is a four-lane road crossing of the Brahmaputra on National Highway 127B, about nineteen kilometres long, being built with Japanese development assistance, and when it opens it will be one of the longest bridges over water in the country. What it does is close a gap that geography and the river have kept open. At present a journey between the two banks in this part of the valley means either a ferry or a long detour eastwards to the nearest crossing, which is why western Assam and the Garo Hills of Meghalaya, though they face each other across the water, are hours apart by road. The bridge shortens that to a single crossing, links the Garo Hills to the highway network of lower Assam and to North Bengal beyond it, and improves the movement of goods towards Bangladesh, which lies immediately to the south and west. The question is answerable from the map alone if two facts are held: the Brahmaputra runs west along the northern edge of Meghalaya before turning south, so the state on the far bank from Dhubri is Meghalaya; and Phulbari is a town of the West Garo Hills.

Why the others are wrong

• (a)Arunachal Pradesh — The right river and the wrong end of it. Arunachal Pradesh lies far upstream to the north-east, where the Brahmaputra enters India as the Siang after leaving Tibet as the Yarlung Tsangpo, and the crossings that connect it to Assam are several hundred kilometres from Dhubri — the Bhupen Hazarika Setu at Dhola-Sadiya, opened in 2017 over the Lohit, and the Bogibeel rail-cum-road bridge between Dibrugarh and Dhemaji, opened in 2018. Dhubri is at the opposite, downstream end of the Assam valley.
• (c)West Bengal — The most tempting option, for two reasons. Dhubri district does border West Bengal, so the state is genuinely close by; and there is a well-known Phulbari in West Bengal too, near Siliguri, which is a land customs station on the border with Bangladesh. But that Phulbari is more than two hundred kilometres away to the north-west, and the road journey between Dhubri and West Bengal does not require a bridge over the Brahmaputra at all. This bridge runs southwards across the river, and the bank it reaches is in Meghalaya. Where a place name is shared by two states, fix the district before answering.
• (d)Mizoram — Wrong side of the north-east altogether. Mizoram lies in the far south of the region, beyond the Barak valley, and its road links to the rest of India run through southern Assam by way of Silchar, not across the Brahmaputra. The Brahmaputra does not flow anywhere near Mizoram; the river of that region is the Barak, which flows west into Bangladesh as the Surma and the Kushiyara.

The Brahmaputra is the organising fact of Assam's geography and of the north-east's connectivity problem. It rises in Tibet as the Yarlung Tsangpo, enters India in Arunachal Pradesh as the Siang or Dihang, is joined by the Dibang and the Lohit near Sadiya to become the Brahmaputra, then runs about seven hundred kilometres west through the Assam valley before turning south past Dhubri into Bangladesh, where it is known as the Jamuna and joins the Ganga as the Padma. It is braided, carries an enormous silt load, floods annually and shifts its channels, which makes it both very wide and very expensive to bridge; Majuli, one of the largest river islands in the world, sits in its course. For most of the twentieth century the valley had almost no crossings at all, so the state's development has been tied to bridge building: the Saraighat bridge at Guwahati in 1962, the Kolia Bhomora at Tezpur in 1987, the Naranarayan Setu at Jogighopa in 1998, the Bhupen Hazarika Setu at Dhola-Sadiya over the Lohit in 2017 and the Bogibeel rail-cum-road bridge at Dibrugarh in 2018. The Dhubri-Phulbari bridge belongs to the same programme, aimed at the western end of the valley and at Meghalaya's Garo Hills. The wider policy frame is the government's effort to end the north-east's dependence on the narrow Siliguri corridor by building roads, bridges, waterways on the Brahmaputra and Barak, and transit routes through neighbouring countries.

Key facts

• The Dhubri-Phulbari bridge crosses the Brahmaputra to connect Dhubri in Assam with Phulbari in the West Garo Hills of Meghalaya.
• It is a four-lane road bridge on National Highway 127B, about 19.3 kilometres long, and is being built with assistance from the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
• When completed it will be among the longest bridges over water in India.
• The Brahmaputra rises in Tibet as the Yarlung Tsangpo, enters India in Arunachal Pradesh as the Siang, and becomes the Jamuna after entering Bangladesh.
• Other Brahmaputra crossings in Assam include Saraighat at Guwahati, Kolia Bhomora at Tezpur, Naranarayan Setu at Jogighopa and Bogibeel at Dibrugarh.
• The Bhupen Hazarika Setu, opened in 2017 between Dhola and Sadiya, spans the Lohit and connects Assam with Arunachal Pradesh.
• The Bogibeel bridge, opened in 2018, is a rail-cum-road bridge linking Dibrugarh with Dhemaji.
• Meghalaya's western districts are the Garo Hills; Phulbari lies in West Garo Hills, close to the Bangladesh border.

Common traps

• Being led by a shared place name. There is a Phulbari near Siliguri in West Bengal and another in Bangladesh; the one in this question is in West Garo Hills, Meghalaya.
• Associating any Brahmaputra bridge with Arunachal Pradesh. The Arunachal crossings are far upstream at the eastern end of the valley.
• Forgetting that Meghalaya sits south of the Brahmaputra along much of lower Assam, so a southward crossing from Dhubri lands in Meghalaya.
• Confusing the Brahmaputra system with the Barak system, which drains the southern part of the region past Silchar towards Bangladesh.
• Assuming every long Indian bridge project is a rail bridge; this one is a road bridge on a national highway.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Bhupen Hazarika Setu, connecting Dhola and Sadiya, is built over which one of the following rivers ?

  • (a)Lohit
  • (b)Barak
  • (c)Subansiri
  • (d)Manas

  Answer(a) Lohit

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Bogibeel bridge over the Brahmaputra connects Dibrugarh with which one of the following districts ?

  • (a)Dhubri
  • (b)Dhemaji
  • (c)Tezpur
  • (d)Jogighopa

  Answer(b) Dhemaji