Tinsukia, the eastern-most district of Assam, has suddenly drawn the attention of many known security agencies across the globe after the town kept international satellites busy in December last month. According to one media report, there was a process of mapping the forest cover in the Asia-Africa region in the first week of December was going on, one of the American satellites found an image of a section of forest near the Tinsukia railway station.
US’s Landsat 8 and other such satellites have been involved in many assignments across the globe. Apparently, in the first week of December, while mapping the forest cover in the Asia-Africa region, one of the American satellites sent a picture of a section of forest near the Tinsukia Railway station, which was interpreted as a concealed mobile ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) rake.
The area is close to the Indian border and not heavily populated, further reinforced the belief that what was visible in the satellite image was just the “tip of the iceberg”. Without delay, Russia and China too had their ante-up. This puzzled the Indian authorities and space agencies about the excessive activity of foreign satellites over Tinsukia.
The image pointed out to a camouflaged mobile ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) rake. The countries that have operational ICBMs are – the United States, China, Russia, India, North Korea, and Iran. But the question has been raised whether India actually kept such a rake hidden in the forest near Tinsukia railway station.
The North-East Frontier Railway has not given any official statement on the matter, they have tweeted on the issue: “There is no information available with us to confirm this story. We don’t have any idea about the Railway inquiry mentioned in the story.”
It has also been reported that the following excessive activities of foreign satellites, Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), National Investigation Agency (NIA), Defence Ministry and the Cabinet Committee on Security also got involved in it.
The report claims, an inquiry revealed that there was actually a rake hidden in the forested area near the Tinsukia railway station. The report said the railway inquiry did reveal that in 1976 there was a rake which was brought to Tinsukia railway station. It was placed a few metres away from the railway station.
But on the day the rake was brought to Tinsukia, heavy rainfall flooded the area. The floodwaters even submerged the railway station. It has also been reported that the area, where the rake was placed, was covered in vegetation and the people, who had knowledge about the rake, were evicted and sent out of the town.
