DHD threat to stop rail work

Work in progress on the Lumding
-Silchar track. Picture by UB Photos

Haflong, Feb. 5: Former DHD leaders today threatened to stop the ongoing broad gauge conversion and East-West corridor projects in Dima Hasao district for an indefinite period unless a CBI inquiry was conducted into the killing of its former general secretary Rajesh Naidin on January 9.
The decision was taken at a meeting in Umrangsu, 134km from here, chaired by former chief of the outfit Dilip Nunisa. Altogether 80 former DHD cadres and leaders were present at the meeting.
Nunisa told The Telegraph, "We are compelled to take this decision because almost a month has passed but the local administration has failed to apprehend the culprits behind the killing of our leader. We are demanding a CBI probe into the killing, rehabilitation of former DHD cadres and withdrawal of the cases against the outfit, except heinous crimes."
Rajesh Naiding alias Maiju, one of the signatories to the memorandum of settlement signed between DHD and DHD (Joel) and the central and Assam governments on October 8, 2012, was killed by unidentified gunmen around 6.30pm on January 9 this year near his residence at Dayungmukh, 112km from Haflong.
The proposed protest could further delay the ongoing broad gauge conversion in Dima Hasao, derailing the fresh deadline to complete the Lumding-Silchar line by March 31.
The project was started in 1996 with a completion deadline of 10 years. However, insurgency saw the track conversion and the East-West corridor (started in 1998) run behind schedule.
Nunisa also claimed to have submitted a memorandum to governor P.B. Acharya and Union minister of state for home affairs Kiren Rijiju on their demands but there had been no headway.
Dima Halam Daogah (DHD), a disbanded militant group fighting for a separate Dimasa state, declared a ceasefire on January 1, 2003, and after 10 years of talks with the central and state governments, surrendered arms on March 9, 2013.