Centre dispatches addtl paramilitary force to gaurd rly project

Guwahati, May 16 (UNI) The Centre has dispatched six companies of additional paramilitary forces to guard over an insurgency-affected, under construction, mega-gauge conversion project of the Northeast Frontier Railway(NFR) in North Cachar hill district.

Police here today said the additional forces would be deployed to keep vigil over the Rs 1,500 crore railway gauge conversion project between Lumding and Silchar that passes through the insurgency-affected North Cachar Hill district.

The project which begun in 1996-97, is yet to be completed, due to frequent disruption of works affected by threats from tribal militant groups active in the area.

Militants belonging to Dima Halam Daogah (DHD), United People's Democratic Solidarity (UPDS) and Black Widow, the anti-peacetalks faction of the DHD, have been preventing the project works from gaining momentum.

The Railway staff and contractors were forced to work under constant threat from gun-toting militants ruling the roost in the thickly forested hilly terrain.

The decision to send additional forces was arrived at after the Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil took stock of the security scenario in the state in a high-level meeting held here on May 8 last.

UNI