Monday, 16 February 2026
Monday, 16 February 2026
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was welcomed with cultural performances in Guwahati on Saturday as he began a day-long visit to Assam, where assembly elections are due in a few months.
Performers representing various communities and tribes of the state lined the road from the Kamakhya Gate area to the Kumar Bhaskarvarma Setu as Modi travelled to Lachit Ghat to inaugurate several projects, including a new bridge over the Brahmaputra.
Cultural troupes performed on specially erected platforms along the route, while the prime minister waved at them from his car as the convoy moved slowly.
One of the key projects inaugurated during the visit was the Rs 3,030-crore Kumar Bhaskar Varma Setu, a six-lane bridge connecting Guwahati with North Guwahati.
The bridge, built over the Brahmaputra, is the first extradosed Prestressed Concrete (PSC) bridge in the Northeast. After the inauguration, Modi took a walk on the structure.
Assam governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya and chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma were present on the occasion.
Earlier in the day, the prime minister landed in Chabua and inaugurated the Northeast’s first Emergency Landing Facility (ELF) at Moran in Dibrugarh district.
Later, he made a landing at the 4.2-km facility aboard a C-130J aircraft after taking off from the Chabua airfield.
Built at a cost of nearly Rs 100 crore on a stretch of National Highway-37, the ELF has been developed in coordination with the Indian Air Force to support both military and civil aircraft during emergencies.
It will also function as an alternative landing site to Dibrugarh airport if required. An aerial display followed the inauguration. A Sukhoi-30 MKI took off first, followed by a Rafale fighter jet. The IAF’s An-32 transport aircraft performed a ‘touch and go’.
Three-aircraft formations of Sukhoi-30 MKI and Rafale flew in succession, with one of each landing at the facility while the others executed overshoots.
Advanced Light Helicopters carried out Special Heli-Borne Operations by dropping commandos at the airstrip and later demonstrated relief and medical evacuation drills.
Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had earlier said that around 16 aircraft would participate in what he described as the first such “elaborate” exercise at an ELF. Air Chief Marshal A. P. Singh was also present.
In Guwahati, Modi also virtually inaugurated the temporary campus of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Guwahati. Approved last year, it is the second IIM in the Northeast after IIM Shillong and the 22nd in the country.
The prime minister also inaugurated the National Data Centre (NDC) for the northeastern region at Amingaon in Kamrup district.
The 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 act as a disaster recovery centre for other NDCs.
Additionally, Modi flagged off 225 electric buses under the PM-eBus Sewa Scheme. Of these, 100 buses have been allocated to Guwahati, 50 each to Nagpur and Bhavnagar, and 25 to Chandigarh.
The prime minister was also scheduled to address booth-level party workers before returning to New Delhi.
