NEW DELHI: The railway ministry has directed the general managers (GMs) of all the 17 zones to
facilitate the transportation of aid and relief materials to flood-affected Northeastern region without charging for the freight. More than 60 lakh people in Assam and other adjoining states are reeling under the fury of flood.
“At this time of watery disaster, the railways has decided to permit inter-state and intra-state transport for aid and relief materials by parcel vans and goods train to flood-affected Northeastern region without charging for freight,” said an official.
This will remain affective till August 24 this year. According to the official instruction issued to all GMs, all government organisations across the country can book the relief materials free of cost to aforesaid affected states.
“Other organisations, as deemed fit by the divisional railway manager, may also avail of this provision ensuring that consignor or consignee is district magistrate or deputy commissioner in whose jurisdiction the dispatching and receiving stations are situated,” the order states. The ministry has also empowered the divisional railway managers (DRMs) to take decisions on attaching additional bogies or vans to various trains bound to the Northeast.
The ministry has also stated that all zonal railways will maintain detailed accounts of movements of relief materials and no ancillary charges would be charged for transportation.
Silchar flood man-made: Himanta
Guwahati: Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday said the flood in Silchar was a man-made disaster “It was a man-made disaster in Silchar. If the embankment at Betukandi was not breached, this would not have happened,” Sarma said after visiting the town