[Assam] Silchar-Lumding gauge conversion is in danger , 11 shot dead in Lumding ambush

Sat Oct 7 02:15:00 PDT 2006

Silchar-Lumding gauge conversion is in danger

11 shot dead in Lumding ambush
 By A Staff Reporter
  GUWAHATI, Oct 6  Eleven people were killed when a team of NF Railway construction personnel and Railway Protection Special Force was ambushed about 11 km from Lumding between Mandarnisa and Hatikhali stations today. The team was heading from Lumding to Maibong in one Bolero and three Tata Sumo vehicles, when suspected militants launched their attack around 8.30 am, the NF Railway stated.

The militants gunfire damaged the last two vehicles, while the two vehicles at the front managed to speed away from the spot. The attack killed seven RPSF jawans, one railway supervisor, and three contractors staff, including two drivers. Immediately after the attack, militants decamped with the weapons carried by the RPSF jawans.

Those killed include Nitish Kumar (section engineer, works/NFR), KP Singh and G Shankar (head constables/RPSF) , Malkit Singh, Md Shahid Ali, Manohar Prasad, BC Sharma and Karan Singh (constables/ RPSF), Hriday Debnath, JJ Ghosh and Ram Das.

Three persons, S Rao (Khalasi/ NFR) S Chakraborty and Subodh Kumar (Section Engineer, Works/NFR) were injured, among which Kumars condition is critical. They have been admitted to the Railway Divisional Hospital at Lumding and would be shifted to Guwahati soon.

Reacting to the tragic incident NF railways General Manager (Construction) , AK Jain, said that it was very unfortunate because the team was going to a construction site, which was part of a national project. He revealed that he had already apprised the State Chief Secretary of the situation. It is a great setback to the gauge conversion work and unless proper security is ensured, progress will suffer, he added.

BB Chetri SP, NC Hills, speaking over the phone said that apart from shooting at the railway team, militants also lobbed some grenades. Details about the situation are gradually coming in, but the present picture was not clear enough to hold any particular outfit responsible for the ambush. 

Other sources hinted at the likely involvement of DHD Black Widow in collaboration with the NSCN (IM). The groups had damaged some construction equipment some time back in the NF Railway Hill Section. The NSCN (IM) has a ceasefire agreement with government of India since nearly a decade.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has condemned the incident as a dastardly act on the part of the extremists who are out to disrupt peace and normalcy in the State.

The Dima Halam Daogah (DHD) has strongly condemned the incident as a heinous crime. It described the incident as an attempt by some  anti-national and anti-peace group to disrupt the peace process in the NC Hills.

Our Lumding Correspondent adds: The railway employees led by the Railway Employees  Union and the N F Railway Mazdoor Union today observed a chakka bandh in protest against the incident. 

Our Correspondent from Badarpur adds: Tension prevails at the railway town of Badarpur following the above incident. The railway employees led by the Badarpur units of the Railway Employees Union and the N F Railway Mazdoor Union locked the doors of the railway offices and obstructed movement of the trains in protest of the incident. 

They alleged that the authorities were intimated on more than one occasion of the extortion demands of some of the extremist groups, who threatened the railway employees engaged in the hill section of dire consequences if the demand was not met. The extremists were demanding fat monthly levy from the railway employees. But the authorities turned a deaf ear to the pleas of the employees for proper security, alleged the railway employees.

The railway employees also took out a long procession in protest against the inaction of the railway as well as the Government authorities to protect their colleagues from the wrath of the militants. The restiveness among the railway employees compelled the Railways to suspend all train services from Badarpur.

The leaders of the Employees Union and Mazdoor Union warned today while speaking to this correspondent that they would resort to a vigorous agitation jointly if the authorities failed to arrange for adequate security to protect the life and property of the railway employees in the hill section expeditiously.

Meanwhile, the BJP has condemned the incident and blamed the apathy of the railway authorities towards the pleas of the their employees for providing adequate security to them.

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