With over 25,000 rail passengers trapped in the violence-hit Assam, the Railways have sent an SOS to the Home Ministry to rush security forces to ensure their safe return and resumption of train movement.
As many as 37 trains, including three Rajdhani Expresses, have been held up within the 54 km stretch between Srirampur and Salakati railway stations under the North East Frontier Railway.
An estimate is that about 25,000 passengers are stranded, though those in distress could be more
Railway Minister Mukul Roy held an emergency meeting of the Railway Board and took stock of the situation. He called up Home Minister P. Chidambaram and briefed him about the problem that the Railways were facing as violence continues to rock Assam, and sought Central forces for escorting the trains to their scheduled destination.
The Railways have so far cancelled 26 trains, including the Delhi-bound Rajdhani Express.
The Railways claimed that they were geared to provide water and food to the stranded passengers.
Keywords: Mukul Roy, Assam trains, Assam ethnic violence, Kokrajhar communal violence, Bodo tribals, Assam minority immigrants, shoot-at-sight orders, Assam curfew
Army must take immediate control of the area as it controls kashmir.
I do not know of the logistics involved in this violence-torn situation. I hope the stranded passengers are safely taken out of this area. I can comment on my experience in USA about two years ago. I was travelling from Seattle,Washington to Pasco in Eastern Washington. I was to change train in Portland. However there was a freight train derailment between Portland and Pasco making that route impassable. All the passengers were promptly bused from Portland to Pasco and beyond by Amtrak. I wonder what Indian Railways would have done under such circumstance.Under the pretext that there was no emergency or threat to life the railways might have kept the passengers waiting even if it meant for the passengers to sleep on the platform for a few days. Of course I cannot brag about USA too much. At times airline passengers have to wait too long at the airports without any directions or information from the airline companies. So much for the hubris of modern technology including informational.
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