One dead; Railway stns, highways turn into battleground
A man was shot dead in police firing in Telangana’s Secunderabad, trains went up in flames, and public and private vehicles attacked, as railway stations and highways turned into battleground in many states on Friday amid burgeoning protests against Agnipath, the contentious defence recruitment scheme.
Assurances by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah and the Army chief failed to cut ice with hordes of angry youth, carrying bamboo sticks and stones, storming railway premises across cities and small towns and laying siege to highways, creating a security scare.
Over 300 trains have been affected and more than 200 cancelled so far due to the protests, the Railways said, reflecting the enormity of the agitation. Coaches of seven trains have so far been set ablaze by protesters, officials said, adding carriages of three running trains in the East Central Railway (ECR), headquartered in Bihar’s Hajipur, and one empty rake in Kulharia, also in the same zone, were damaged by protestors.
As the depredations against the recruitment scheme continued for the third day across India, from Uttar Pradesh to Telangana and Bihar to Madhya Pradesh, Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah and Army chief Gen Manoj Pande tried to assuage the concerns of the agitators with little success.
Centre’s decision to increase the upper age limit will benefit a large number of youth, Shah said. He added that the recruitment process in the Army had been affected for the last two years due to Covid pandemic and Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a sensitive decision by showing concern for the youth of the country.
“I appeal to the youth that the process of recruitment in the army is going to start in a few days. They start their preparation for it,” Rajnath Singh tweeted, calling the scheme a “golden opportunity” for the youth.
But the protests spread, seemingly uncontrolled, with crowds squatting on tracks and highways, pelting trains and buses with stones, toppling vending kiosks at train stations and burning used tyres on tracks.
Fiery orange flames leapt out of the windows of trains at Secunderabad, and Lakhisarai and Samastipur in Bihar, sending thick plumes of black smoke into the sky that could be seen from several kilometres away.
Broken tubelights, benches and stones littered several railway stations across the country. Policemen in anti-riot gear were seen chasing away the protesters, hundreds of whom were rounded up. Demonstrators also blocked highways at several places in Buxar, Bhagalpur and Samastipur with burnt tyres.
Besides targeting railway properties, the protesters attacked the house of deputy chief minister Renu Devi and the car of a BJP MLA in Bihar. One person was fatally injured when Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel fired to disperse the rampaging protesters at Secunderabad station. The injured are being treated in the state-run Gandhi Hospital.
Madhya Pradesh’s commercial capital Indore, Haryana’s Narwana and many places in West Bengal and Jharkhand witnessed protests.
Initial recruitment process by next week
As protests against the Agnipath military recruitment scheme intensified, the Army, Navy and the Air Force on Friday announced that they will start the enrolment process under the new model by next week while Defence Minister Rajnath Singh appealed to the youths wanting to join the armed forces to start preparing for the induction.
Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari told PTI that the selection process by the Indian Air Force for recruitment under the new scheme will start from June 24 while the Army said it will begin the initial exercise within two days.
While the Indian Navy said it will start the recruitment process “very soon”, a senior naval commander said the notification for the recruitment would be out within a week.
The three services are planning to deploy the first batches of recruits under the new scheme both in operational and non-operational roles by June next year, senior military officials said.
