Anti-CAA protests: NF Railway reports loss of more than Rs 100 crore

The Citizenship Amendment Bill was enacted in December 2019 after it secured a majority in both the Houses of Parliament. However, it resulted in protests breaking all across the country. In Assam, All Assam Students Union (AASU) and other organisations led the protest which took a violent shape. The state government had to impose a curfew, ban Internet service in the state to bring the law and order situation under control.

The deteriorated circumstances in Assam left a massive impact on tourism and communication. Through a press release, Northeast Frontier Railway shared that due to violent agitation by protestors against the CAAin various areas within the jurisdiction of NFR which started on 9th December 2019; “Cumulative loss incurred by NFR crossed Rs 100 crores till 30th December 2019.”

The release clarified, “It may be mentioned here that NFR not only incurred losses due to damages caused to railway properties but also due to cancellations of passenger trains as well as goods carrying trains to and from NF zone to other zones.”

Signed by chief public relations officer, Subhanan Chanda, the press release stated that the damages caused include burning down of railway stations, damages to railway tracks, level crossing gates, burning of important communication and other electronic gears. “Total damages caused to railway properties in divisions like Tinsukia, Katihar, Lumding, Rangiya is about Rs 10 crore. The loss incurred in originating earnings due to loss in passenger earnings is about Rs 30.13 crore. The loss in freight earnings is about Rs 63.42crore while the loss in parcel earnings is about Rs 5.05 crore from 9th of December till 30th December,2019,” read the release.

The NF Railway further informed that during this period, about 38.86 lacs passengers could not take up their journey in NFR due to cancellations of trains. “While NFR immediately swung into action to restore train services after improvement in law and order situation by introducing manual train operations in some affected portions; the damages caused in other sections are still being repaired,” concluded the release.