LUMDING, Oct 22 � The Lumding units of the NSUI and Youth Congress observed a 24-hour �Lumding bandh� on October 20 protesting against the stepmotherly treatment of the railway authority in connection with the Lumding-Silchar gauge conversion work.
The public spontaneously supported the bandh which was peaceful. A memorandum was later submitted to the Divisional Railway Manager here whose office was gheraoed by a large number of members from both the organisations. The DRM assured them to look into the matter, while forwarding the memorandum to the higher authority for necessary steps.
The memorandum demanded that eviction must be avoided as far as practicable. Moreover, it sought conversion of the existing metre gauge railway tracks into broad gauge. It also opposed the transfer of a large number of railway employees from Lumding.
Meanwhile, following the �mega block� between the Lumding-Silchar section, declared recently by the railway authority, the entire marshalling yard area, covering more than 200 bighas of land having the offices of the carriage staff, POS, shunting staff, traffic, etc., as well as the amenities of pit line for both metre gauge and broad gauge, has turned into a solitary desert with its employees transferred to other places. Now the people are demanding that a diesel shed be constructed here so that these employees can be accommodated there.
