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Journalism of Courage
Tripura Health and Science & Technology Minister Sudip Roy Barman invited Swapan Debbarma, 45, and his teenage daughter Somati —who averted a train accident on June 15 saving the lives of over 2,000 passengers — to his residence and had breakfast with them. The duo, locals of Dhalai’s Ambassa, had waved their shirts before the train after they spotted a stretch of railway track affected due to a landslide.
“Had they not taken the risk in stopping the train, lives would’ve been lost. When I came to know of this, I called them at my residence and had breakfast with them,” ANI quoted Barman as saying.
Earlier on Thursday, members of the Tripura Assembly (both treasury and opposition benches) praised Swapan Debbarma and his daughter for taking such an extreme step. They were made to sit in the VIP gallery witnessing the proceedings of the House.
Barman raised the issue in Zero Hour and requested Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb and the House to extend a befitting reward to the two. He also told the House that Debbarma’s name would be recommended to the Central government and the Railways Ministry for help and a reward, according to IANS.
On June 15, while walking along the rail line at Ambassa in northern Tripura (under Dhalai district), Debbarma and Somati saw that huge landslides following heavy rains had affected around a kilometre of the rail track. They immediately took off their shirts and waved them to stop the train. The driver got the indication and stopped the train just in time. “If we had not spotted the signal and stopped the train, it could have met with a severe accident,” Sonu Kumar Mandal, the driver of the train, had said.
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