Timely action by NF Railway has led to successful evacuation, Kudos to all agencies: CM Assam

May 16: Torrential rainfall since the last few days has caused havoc in many parts of North East region. Landslides at various places have resulted in immense hardship for the people. Meanwhile, large number of passengers who were travelling from Silchar to Guwahati by 15616 Express Train on 14 May got struck at Ditokcherra station as railway tracks in many places on the route were washed away by running water. Landslides too played spoilsport as the tracks got covered under heaps of mud.

On Saturday, around 1000 passengers of 15616 Exp stranded at Ditokcherra have been brought up to the specia train on the other side of the damaged bridge from here the train has moved to Damchara where food and water has been provided. This special train will depart for Badarpur. The evacuation special train has reached Silchar and after a final count it has been seen that a total of 1245 passengers have been evacuated successfully by train.

After successful evacuation of 1245 stranded passengers from Ditokcherra by train, the remaining passengers were being airlifted to Silchar on Saturday with the help Indian Air Force. A total of 119 passengers were airlifted from Ditokcherra to Silchar Airport in helicopters by the India Air Force.

Taking to his twitter handle on Monday night, Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma wrote, “With heavy rains, come landslides & consequent disruption in communication. Happy that 119 stranded aged & ailing train passengers could be safely airlifted from Dima Hasao district. Kudos to all agencies Army, IAF, Railways, Dist Admn, Police & ASDMA for coordinated action.”

Whereas, after the successful completion of evacuation, Northeast Frontier Railway on Monday tweeted, “Timely action by NF Railway has led to successful evacuation of all passengers of train no. 15616 stranded at Ditokcherra. The last spl train left KM 135 evacuating 180 passengers from here. Salute to all unsung heroes working day & night in this difficult situation.”