At the initiative of the Dima Hasao district administration, a high-level discussion was held in the conference hall of the Deputy Commissioner’s office at Haflong for the second time on the issue of railway compensation raised by the Indigenous Students’ Forum (ISF) for the second time. But the decision of the issue remained inconclusive.
The discussion was attended by Special Director General of Police, Assam, Pallab Bhattacharya, the DRM of Lumding Division of Northeast Frontier Railway Pramod Kumar Jain and Chief Engineer, NFR (Construction) Rajendra Prasad Jingar.
Apart from them, Dima Hasao DC Debajyoti Hazarika, Superintendent of Police Prashanta Saikia, Land & Revenue official P Jeme, ISF President David Keivom, Additional Superintendent of Police Pushpa Singh, Additional DC Dipak Jidung and others.
After a two-hour-long discussion, it was made clear that the railway authorities have no provisions for providing compensation in a fresh way. However, efforts would be taken if any solution would come out after a discussion at the level of the Chief Secretary of the State and the General Manager of the NFR over the compensation issue.
Moreover, keeping in view of the people’s demands, it was also decided to run Hill Queen in between Lumding and Silchar from April next.
Lumding Division’s DRM Jain as well as Chief Engineer (Construction) Jingar said last year an amount of Rs 1.78 crore was released for compensation. But as a new demand has been raised, so a discussion on the issue of compensation would have to be held in between the State’s Chief Secretary and the NFR GM. And if needed, the issue would also be taken up in the Railway Board.
On the other hand, ISF President David Keivom said, if the issue of railway compensation is not solved within March 31, a railway blockade would be observed. However, Keivom expressed his happiness at the announcement that the Hill Queen would run in between Lumding and Silchar. He said, “If the Hill Queen runs again, it will benefit the people of the hill area a lot.”
