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Dec 16, 2013

Rail construction site attacked at Nungba, gun fight at Jiribam

Jiribam (JRBM): Suspected cadres of a hill based militants group opened fire at the construction site of the Jiribam-Tupul railway at Thingou in Nungba subdivision in Tamenglong district even as a gun fight was reported between two factions of a tribal based militant group at Jiribam sub-division last night.

No one was injured in the attack. According to a source, the attackers were suspected to militants from a hill based outfit. The firing at the construction site of tunnel no.11 took place Saturday at around 4.30 pm in which personnel of the state IRB guarding the site retaliated.

It may be mentioned here that a private construction company is drilling the tunnel number 11 at the said site. Additional security forces have been rushed to the area immediately and a search operation was launched in the area.

On the other hand, cadres of two factions of United Tribal Liberation Army (UTLA) engaged in a gun fight Saturday night at around 9.30 pm at Phaiton village along Imphal-Jiribam section of NH-37 in the Imphal East district last night. Official reports said that the gun fight erupted among the cadres of UTLA led by SK Thadou and Robert Singson when the former intervened in the extortion activities of the later. A highly reliable source said that the group led by SK Thadou has been pressing the officials of the Power Grid Corporation and companies engaged in the railway line construction in Jiribam and Tamenglong district to pay 2% and 20% respectively to the group. Last night, cadres of the group came at the temporary office of the power grid and pressed the officials there to pay the money they had demanded. At the same time, cadres of other group also arrived and intervened resulting to a brief gun fight.

There was no report of any casualty on both sides in the brief gunfight which was lasted for about 15 minutes.

Reports said that around 9:30 pm at a place called Phaitol, United Tribal Liberation Army (UTLA-KNO) and UTLA (SK Thadou) exchanged heaving firing. In the incident, one UTLA (KNO) cadre was reportedly injured.

Source..Rail News

Militants attack Railway line construction workers in Manipur

Imphal: Militants have attacked workers engaged in constructing Railway lines in Tamenglong district but no casualty was reported, the police said today.

The militants first exploded a powerful grenade and opened fire at the workers at Thingen area yesterday before escaping to nearby jungles.

Personnel of Indian Reserve Battalion, who were guarding the area, returned the fire and the exchange of fire lasted for over an hour, the police said.

No monetary demand had been made by the militants from the construction company and the motive behind the attack was not known, the police said.

In another incident, there was a heavy exchange of fire between two factions of Kuki militants at Phaiton area in Tamenglong district during which a militant was injured last evening, the police said.

The injured was taken to a nearby hospital.

Source..Rail News

CEC visit to Karnataka, hopes for Hubli-Ankola rail link revive

BANGALORE: The Supreme Court appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) members will be in Karnataka on Tuesday to look into various issues and primarily on the environmental impact on the proposed Hubli-Ankola railway line.

With CEC assessing the long pending 167-km rail link, the move has raised fresh hopes for the people of coastal and Malnad belt to connect with the hinterland. While the government and people have great expectation on the rail link as it is expected to boost social and economic activities, environmentalists have opposed the proposal alleging that huge tracts of forest would be destroyed.

“Around 750 acres of forest would be lost for this project, which is less compared to any other standards. But the link has huge potential in overall development of coastal and central Karnataka,” chief secretary Kaushik Mukherjee told. As the some parts of forest cover in the Malnad would be lost the CEC has to assess the situation.

Batting for the project, Mukherjee said the proposed link is important as coastal and Malnad region people don’t have a direct rail link with the hinterland. “They have to travel huge distance through train to reach hinterland. Only Bangalore-Sakleshpur train which runs to Mangalore. For people in Uttara Kannada and Udupi, Goa and Mumbai are close due to various rail links,” he said.

According to him, the proposed Hubli-Ankola rail link would boost up economic activities of central and coastal Karnataka with improvement in goods and services without affecting the environment as railway is one of the cleanest form of transport. “The link may also upgraded to electricity run one in future,” Mukherjee said.

Studies on the feasibility of the Hubli-Ankola railway link had been on for more than a decade. The foundation stone for this route was laid by former prime minister AB Vajpayee. Many politicians of the region have even made a career promising this important line to voters. In 2001, the cost of the project was estimated at Rs 998 crore. Many minor bridges and culverts have already been constructed between Kalghatgi and Hubli, before Union ministry of environment and forests halted the project following opposition from environmentalists.

Recently, a scientific team from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, took up a preliminary study of the topography of the terrain. The six-member team headed by TV Ramachandra and Subhaschandra visited areas like Karwar, Yellapur, Kiruvatti, Mastikoppa and Hubli.

The CEC will also review the resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R) of A category mines in Bellary. The SC has termed A category mines as no violations. The apex court had ordered for reopening of these mines and the iron ore produced to be e-auctioned.

Source..Rail News
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