Mild quake hits Assam’s Dima Hasao district; no casualties reported
A mild earthquake, measuring 3.8 on the Richter scale, hit Assam’s mountainous Dima Hasao district on Saturday night, officials said.
Railways is running special trains from Guwahati to help stranded passengers in Assam which has been hit by violent protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act.
Special passenger trains are being run in Guwahati so that people reach their destination in upper Assam. One such train was operated on Friday to Dimapur. Trains were also run on Saturday to Furkating, the main railway junction in Assam’s Golaghat district, and to Dibrugarh.
A special passenger train to Dimapur from Guwahati will also run on Saturday night, they said. While 2000-2400 passengers were ferried in the last two days, around 600-800 passengers were still stranded in Guwahati. These shall be ferried by Sunday morning.
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The officials said the railways is using social media like Facebook and Twitter to inform passengers about the special trains and also to appeal to people not to vandalise station property. Officers are also continuously monitoring the situation and senior officers are camping in control rooms to supervise.
Public relations offices in the affected areas are issuing regular press releases to inform the public about train movement. “Railways is becoming a soft target and thousands of passengers are inconvenienced and stranded. Railways is making efforts for informing about cancellation of trains. Safety of passengers is paramount and hence cancellation of trains. Wherever possible, local railway administration is running local trains for stranded passengers,” an official said.
Several parts of northeast India have witnessed violent protests over the past few days against the Citizenship Amendment Act, which expedites citizenship applications from non-Muslim religious minorities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
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