AGARTALA

The Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel of N.F. Railway have recovered contraband items like cannabis, drugs, liquor and stolen rails, measuring tape, foreign made garments worth about Rs. 12.72 lakh as well as two stolen Enfield motor cycles during the period from 23^rd September to 9^th October, 2019. The contrabands were recovered during regular checks and special drives at various stations and trains over N.F. Railway.

During this period, the RPF also rescued 45 children at different stations over N.F. Railway and handed them over to their respective guardians or NGO’s like Child Line.

Acting o­n information received from sources regarding theft of rails from Lumding- Patharkhola section o­n 23^rd September, CIB (Crime Investigation Branch) team of RPF/Lumding rushed to the spot and started search to locate the stolen rails and detected o­ne truck parked at 3 No. Hathikhuli area loaded with 14 pieces of 52 kgs rails of different length. RPF personnel apprehended o­ne person from the truck and seized stolen rails, o­ne gas cutter and the rail laden truck with keys. The value of the recovered rails was Rs. 70 thousand (approx.).

Similarly o­n September 24^th, CPDS (Crime Prevention and Detection Squad) team of CIB/Guwahati conducted checking against theft of passenger belongings at Guwahati railway station and apprehended o­ne person with recovery of two mobile phones stolen from passengers.

Again o­n 25^th September, acting o­n tip-off, CIB team of RPF/Guwahati rushed to the Parcel Office, Guwahati and recovered two stolen Enfield motor cycles which were carried from New Delhi by train. RPF personnel seized the vehicles and apprehended three persons involved in theft of the vehicles.

Acting o­n information received o­n 26^th September, RPF of Barpeta Road and CPDS team of RPF/Rangiya jointly conducted checking in train no. 15632 DN- Bikaner Express at Barpeta Road railway station and recovered two unclaimed plastic bags containing contraband liquor worth Rs. 10,320/-. In an another incident o­n that day, RPF of Dharmanagar conducted checking at Dharmanagar railway station and recovered 3 kgs cannabis valued at Rs. 18 thousand. Again o­n 29^th September, RPF of Dharmanagar recovered 5 unclaimed packets containing 9800 drugging tablets during surprise checking conducted in train No. 55664 UP Silchar - Agartala Passenger. The value of the recovered tablets was Rs. 4.90 lakh.

On 1^st October, RPF personnel of New Bongaigaon during checking at Train No. 12502- Poorvattar Sampark Kranti Express, recovered contraband items like measuring tape and foreign made garments worth Rs. 6.75 lakh. o­n that day, RPF team of Katihar also apprehended two persons during special checking drive at Katihar Railway station area with recovery of 51 bottles of IMFL of Rs. 9,335/-.

RPF personnel of Guwahati apprehended o­ne person at Hojai Railway station o­n 3^rdOctober, during escorting train No. 15612 DN- Silchar – Guwahati Express and recovered 3 stolen mobile phones and other IT related items.

Again o­n 3^rd October, RPF of Tinsukia conducted drive at against touting activities at PRS counter at Dibrugarh Town and apprehended o­ne person namely Aftab Khan aged about 43 yrs and seized two Railway tickets of Rs. 2090/- along with cash Rs. 5 thousand.

Taking another step in Railway’s commitment for providing better commuter service, the first ever Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU) trains in Tripura between Agartala to Dharmanagar & Agartala to Sabroom was flagged today during a ceremonial function held at Agartala Railway station. The flagging off function was attended by Chief Minister of Tripura Shri Biplab Kr. Deb, Transport Minister of Tripura Shri Pranajit Shingha Roy, MP(LS) Smt. Pratima Bhoumik and MLAs Smt. Mimi Majumder, Shri Ram Prasad Paul, Shri Ratan Chakraborty, Shri Sudhan Das & Shri Prabhat Choudhury. Senior railway officials including the General Manager Shri Sanjive Roy and Divisional Railway Manager / Lumding Shri Ram Bahadur Rai were also present during the occasion.

Speaking o­n the occasion, Chief Minister of Tripura Shri Biplab Kr. Deb thanked N.F. Railway authority for fulfilling the long standing of the people of Tripura by introducing DEMU trains before the ensuing Durga Puja festival. He said that local people will be immensely benefited with the services of this train as they will be able to come to Agartala and go back to their places after enjoying the Durga Puja. He also thanked NFR for completing the railway connectivity upto Sabroom which is very vital for the economic development of the state.Smt. Pratima Bhoumik Member of Parliament also in her speech mentioned that during last five years Tripura got special attention regarding railway related development work unlike earlier years.

The regular service of the DEMU trains will start from 4^th October, 2019 in the Dharmanagar-Agartala – Sabroom. The timings are as follows:

1.07682 Agartala – Sabroom DEMU will start from Agartala at 05-15 am to arrive Sabroom at 07-45 pm.

2.07689 Sabroom - Agartala – Dharmanagar DEMU will start from Sabroom at 08-00am to reach Agartala at 10-25 am and Dharmanagar at 02-00 pm.

3.07690 Dharmanagar- Agartala - Sabroom DEMU will start from Dharmanagar at 02-15 pm to arrive Agartala at 05-25 pm and Sabroom at 08-00pm.

4.07681 Sabroom - Agartala DEMU will start from Sabroom at 08-15pm to reach Agartala at 10-45 pm.

5.07684 Agartala – Sabroom DEMU will start from Agartala at 10-50 amto arrive Sabroom at 01-20 pm.

6.07683 Sabroom - Agartala DEMU willstart from Sabroom at 01-45 pm to reach Agartala at 04-15 pm

7.07688 Agartala – Sabroom DEMU will start from Agartala at 04-30 pmto arrive Sabroom at 07-00 pm.

8.07687 Sabroom - Agartala DEMU willstart from Sabroom at 07-15 pm to reach Agartala at 09-50 pm.