Landslides, blockade disrupt rail services in northeast
June 17th, 2010 - 4:52 pm ICT by IANSSilchar (Assam), June 17 (IANS) Rail services in southern Assam, Tripura, Manipur and Mizoram were suspended following heavy landslides and a three-day rail blockade called by a student body, officials said Thursday.
“Following torrential rains, landslides in five places in Assam’s North Cachar Hills district have disrupted the railway services since Tuesday,” Northeast Fronter Railway area manager B.K. Mishra told reporters here.
The meter gauge railway line from Assam’s Guwahati city passes through southern Assam connecting land-locked Tripura’s capital Agartala and parts of Manipur and Mizoram with the rest of India.
Railway officials and engineers are busy clearing the landslides near Jatinga, Longrangjao, Mahur, Wadringdisa and Daotuhaja in Assam.
Meanwhile, a 72-hour railway blockade called by the Indigenous Students Forum (ISF) that began Thursday has also hit train traffic.
“Fearing sabotage, we have suspended railway services in the region for three days,” Mishra said.
The ISF, a non-Dimasa ethnic group students and youth body, has been demanding bifurcation of the North Cachar Hills district into two separate districts.
A few months back the government announced the renaming of the district as ‘Dimahasao’, triggering protests by the non-Dimasa ethnic tribals.
Dimasas are the dominant tribe in North Cachar Hills district.
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- Successive shutdowns disrupt life in northeast - Jan 22, 2011
- Rail services in northeast restored partially - Oct 07, 2010
- Rail services in northeast restored - Jul 03, 2010
- Passenger train services in northeast still disrupted - Jul 17, 2010
- Landslides disrupt rail services in parts of northeast - Jun 22, 2010
- Rail services in northeast still disrupted - Jun 29, 2010
- Rail services to Tripura, Mizoram disrupted - Jun 10, 2010
- Tripura, Mizoram facing shortage of food grain - Dec 16, 2010
- Disrupted rail services hit supply to northeast - Aug 28, 2009
- Parts of northeast cut-off, train services disrupted - Oct 22, 2011
- Disrupted rail services hit northeast food supply - Aug 26, 2009
- DNRF militant nabbed in Assam - Mar 21, 2012
- 40 houses of tribals torched in southern Assam - Jun 09, 2009
- Night train services resume in terror-hit section of northeast - Oct 21, 2009
Tags: agartala, bifurcation, cachar, fronter, gauge railway, group students, guwahati, indigenous students, landslides, manipur, meter gauge, mishra, mizoram, north cachar hills, railway line, railway officials, railway services, silchar assam, students forum, train traffic