Guwahati: The NF Railway Employees' Union (NFREU) urged the NF Railway General Manager (Construction) to declare three railwaymen - Kamalesh Talukdar (SSE/CON/Works), Ram Anuj Kumar (SSE/Con/Works) and Deepak Kumar (JE/CON/Works) - who lost their lives at the Tupul landslide in Manipur as martyrs, besides awarding them the highest level of a civil gallantry award.
The Union said, "Several railway projects of national importance could materialize in the NF Railway's network system in the last few decades due to the relentless efforts rendered by Railwaymen of Construction Organization. We are all aware that the northeastern region, though covered by paradisiacal scenic beauty, is geographically situated in difficult terrain. In implementing these important projects, due to the harsh, inclement weather and disaster-prone locations, sacrifices by Railway employees have been witnessed. However, most of them went to oblivion with time. Most dangerous of all the disasters that the Construction organization has to bear so far are the two recently occurring at New Haflong and Tupul (Manipur). By the Grace of Almighty, there was no casualty reported from the New Haflong landslide, though it extensively damaged the entire station and its surrounding areas."
"Tupul crossed the limits of all casualties regarding its impact on Railway property, loss of human lives and scale of its destruction. Three of our beloved Railwaymen, namely late Kamalesh Talukder (SSE/CON/Works), late Ram Anuj Kumar (SSE/CON/Works) and late Deepak Kumar (JE/CON/Works) lost their lives along with several other people involved in different capacities in the project. All of them were in their prime, and this tragic incident abruptly ended all their dreams and desires. It is an exemplary sacrifice for promoting the cause of the development of Railways. We should record such sacrifices with golden letters. The sacrifices of these Railway employees deserve to be honoured by recognizing them as national heroes. They should be declared Martyrs and offered the highest level of civil gallantry award," the employees said in their memorandum.
"We would like to draw your attention to the incident involving one of our late Railway employees, Nitya Nanda Bora, ex-loco pilot/LMG, who was killed by militants near Mupa station of Lumding division while on duty. Late Bora showed exemplary courage even after receiving bullet injuries by driving the train to a safe place before succumbing to his injuries. He was posthumously awarded 'Kriti Chakra' on 19-03-2009 by the President of India.
"We, therefore, strongly urge to recommend the names of the above three Railway employees who sacrificed their lives in the line of duty at Tupul to the President of India for posthumously awarding them with 'Kriti Chakra'," the memorandum said.
The memorandum also said, "The north-eastern region is very prone to natural disasters. It is also a fact that development works cannot be stalled owing to these disasters. So, to keep up the morale of the Railway employees deployed in such difficult terrain should be insured with minimum life insurance of Rs 1 crore."
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