Railway Territorial Army cover for NC Hills, Assam

PULLOCK DUTTA

Guwahati, April 29 : The Railway Territorial Army will come to the aid of NF Railway in tackling militants in North Cachar Hills district, after repeated attacks by militants of the Jewel Gorlosa faction of the Dima Halam Daogah. Train services along the NC Hills stretch were withdrawn on March 24after frequent militant attacks. The worst attack in recent times was at Maibong on April 10 when more than 17 passengers were injured and a CRPF jawan killed when militants perched on hilltops sprayed bullets on a running train. On Sunday evening, militants attacked two relief trains. Sources said the RTA personnel, who are equipped with the latest techniques and tactics to combat terror strikes, will arrive in North Cachar Hills soon. At present, 6,000 RTA personnel are based in Kota, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Jamalpur (Jharkhand), Jhansi and Adra (West Bengal). Raised in 1949 as an auxiliary force to maintain rail communication, the RTA is primarily manned by serving railway security personnel with the help of a few permanent staff drawn from the defence forces. This will be the first time that NF Railway would take the help of the Railway Territorial Army for the smooth running of trains in the Northeast. “As of now, the Territorial Army is the only answer we can find to the volatile situation in N.C. Hills,” a senior railway official said. Although many railway staff working in 23 railway stations in the hill district vacated their stations nearly a week ago, over 250 are still on duty. Assam police will also set up advance headquarters of at least four Assam police battalions in the district. A senior police official said the deputy commandant of a particular battalion located elsewhere in the state would run these headquarters. “The process to set up the forward battalion headquarters has already started with the four commandants of the selected battalions camping in the district since the last couple of weeks,” the official said. He added that the RTA would be of great help because what the district required was additional security personnel to spread out to more areas. “We need as many as possible, no matter from where, to dominate the area and make the escape of militants after strikes more difficult,” he said. The official said the DHD (J), which is responsible for all the attacks in the district in recent times, has become one of the most powerful militant outfits in the region with no dearth of funds.