Title - Checks on trains from Goalpara

All inbound passenger trains from Goalpara are being thoroughly checked today.The special checking has started following intelligence inputs about the possibility of Ulfa rebels smuggling explosives into the city by train to create trouble ahead of Independence Day.An official source today said thorough checking had been conducted so far in two passenger trains coming from Goalpara at Azara railway station on the city outskirts. The checking would continue till August 15, he added.“The checking is being carried out jointly by the personnel of Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Government Railway Police (GRP) along with the members of village defence parties,” the source said.The source said some cadres of the Ulfa’s Paresh Barua faction were hiding somewhere along the Assam-Meghalaya border in Goalpara with explosives and they might try to sneak into the city by train to carry out strikes here on or before Independence Day.A blast triggered by Ulfa militants had killed one army jawan and injured six others in Goalpara district on July 31.“The passenger trains coming from Goalpara are being stopped at Azara railway station for about half an hour for conducting the special checks,” he said.Sniffer dogs and explosive detectors are being used to check the trains.The RPF has also intensified patrolling of railway tracks and security at Guwahati railway station.

The source said yesterday, a security awareness meeting was organised jointly by city police and Goshala Nagarik Samiti at Goshala in Maligaon.

Senior superintendent of police (city) Anand Prakash Tiwari, Maligaon police outpost officer-in-charge Lohit Rabha, RPF inspector Bimal Chandra Das, Goshala Nagarik Samiti president Dilip Chakraborty, Kamrup district village defence party adviser Sadique Ahmed, among others, attended the meeting.

The objective of the meeting was to make people vigilant ahead of Independence Day and to improve police-public cooperation.

Since the headquarters of Northeast Frontier Railway is at Maligaon, there are several important railway installations in that area, including Kamakhya railway station, which makes it vulnerable to militant strikes, as railway installations have always been the target of militant outfits.

During the meeting, Tiwari asked the people to remain alert and cooperate with the police to foil any possible attempt by militants to carry out strikes in the city.

He also urged railway employees not to sublet staff quarters allotted to them to any unauthorised person as there had been past instances of Ulfa militants taking shelter in railway quarters in Maligaon.

Referring to the yesterday’s violence in Mumbai during a protest against Assam riots, he asked people to maintain communal harmony and prevent any such incident here.