by Bhupen Goswami 

Guwahati : After the recent release of 546 people from human traffickers, a senior RPF officer of The North Eastern Frontier Railway has claimed that most of the people in India are smuggled and some bad elements take advantage of the economic condition of the poor people to smuggle them. The main reason is the deterioration of economic conditions. If local industries are established and local tourism is developed, there is immense potential.

If such indigenous things are done here, the localpeople will not like to leave their homes. He said the Alert Railway Protection Force (RPF) of North Eastern Frontier Railway rescued 546 people including minor children and women during January to October this year. All of them were rescued from trains and stations in various operations carried out on NF Railways. Rpf rescued seven persons including minor boys and girls from trains or stations from 10th to 13th November, 2021 and handed them over to the concerned guardian or railway childline for safe custody.In one such incident, an online complaint was received through rail help on 13th November, 2021 regarding disappearance of a mentally challenged man from Dhubri district of Assam. 05961 RPF Train Escort Party of UP (Kamrup Special) traced and rescued the said person on board the train.

The matter was reported to the parents over phone and later, the rescued person was handed over to his relative after proper identification. On that day, RPF personnel of New Haflong along with GRP staff in train no. Her parents were informed over the phone and later, the rescued girl was handed over to her father after proper identification. In another incident, on November 12, 2021, rpf team from Guwahati rescued an escaped minor boy from Kishanganj district of Bihar while checking at Guwahati station.On November 11, 2021, again, an RPF team from Guwahati rescued three escaped children from Ranchi district of Jharkhand while checking at Guwahati railway station.

They could not make any contact to their parents/relatives’ numbers. Therefore, they were handed over to Railway Childline, Guwahati for their safe custody and further necessary action, a press release said. Earlier this month, police rescued nine girls from Kerala who were smuggled from Assam, while 37 others were rescued from Rangia and Buxa, when they were being taken to Mumbai and Gujarat. He said a total of 107 people have been rescued in the last two months since Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma took over.