New Delhi: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said August 11 that a tunnel would be constructed like the Atal Tunnel’ under the river Brahmapura at a cost of around Rs 4,000-5,000 crore.

In view of China’s aggressive strategy along the Arunachal Pradesh border, the Indian Army has planned to construct a tunnel, similar to the Atal Tunnel, under the Brahmaputra river in Assam for unhindered movement of its vehicles, he said.

The proposed tunnel would be located upstream of the Brahmaputra river from Misa to Tezpur. Its length is expected to be 12-15 kilometres in length. Himanta Biswa Sarma said in the Assam Assembly that China has five different roads to move towards the international border of Arunachal Pradesh, but India has only one road via Bomdila.

“A few days back I went to Arunachal Pradesh along with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. The Indian Army has planned to construct one more road connecting the Arunachal Pradesh-China border. Based on my discussion I want to say that, the Indian Army has now planned to construct a tunnel under the Brahmaputra river from Misa to Tezpur, so that, the movement of Army vehicles would not be stopped in any situation,”  Sarma said.

The Assam Chief Minister further said that the tunnel would be constructed like the Atal Tunnel’ with a cost of around Rs 4,000-5,000 crore.

“It is no surprise for us because the Atal Tunnel has been constructed in Jammu. Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Bipin Rawat told me that, he will discuss with the defence minister about the project and asked me also to discuss with Rajnath Singh. This is a priority project of the Indian Army. If we get the tunnel construction’s engineering plan, then we will also construct two more tunnels,” Himanta Biswa Sarma said.