Guwahati: Over 3000 passengers are stranded at New Haflong railway station in Assam’s Dima Hasao district since January 26 as protest continued against police firing incident where as two protesters were killed and several others injured.
According to the reports, the passengers of Barka Valley in Assam and Tripura are stranded at New Haflong, Lumding, Hojai and few other railway stations since past 48 hours.
On Saturday, some angry passengers had damaged some infrastructure at New Haflong railway station after the railway department didn’t arranged any adequate measures for the stranded passengers.
The stranded passengers also alleged that, they were not provided any food or drinking water by the railway authorities.
Meanwhile, the Northeastern Frontier railway had cancelled four Silchar and Agartala bound passenger trains following the tense situation in Dima Hasao.
A top official of NF Railway said that, due to 48-hour bandh called from 5 am of January 26 to 5 am of January 28 called by several organisations in Dima Hasao district, the railway authorities had cancelled the 55615 UP Guwahati-Silchar passenger, 55616 Silchar-Guwahati passenger, 05631 UP Guwahati-Silchar special trains and 20502 UP Aandbihar-Agartala Rajdhani Express is short terminated at Guwahati and partially cancel in between Guwahati-Agartala.
“The 20501 Down Rajdhani Express will remain cancel in between Agartala-Guwahati,” the railway official said.
On the other hand, the Dima Hasao district administration has called at least 25 buses from Guwahati to send the stranded passengers to their destinations.
Two protesters were killed and several others injured in police firing at Maibong on January 25 last, while the situation turned more violent as a mob had damaged railway tracks and vehicles of Deputy Commissioner (DC) and Superintendent of Police (SP) of Dima Hasao district.
Over thousand protesters blockade the railway tracks at Maibong during the 12-hour band called by Jadikhe Naisho Hosom, (JNH), the Dimasa Apex Body, All Dimasa Students Union, (ADSU), Dimasa Students Union (DSU), Dimasa Mothers’ Association (DMA) protest against inclusion of Dima Hasao in the draft agreement of Naga Accord published in media.
(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)
