In response to the agitation against the Centre’s recently announced Agnipath scheme, the Indian Railways has halted 369 trains on Saturday.
Multiple trains have been canceled because of violent protests across India over the scheme. These include 210 mail/express trains and 159 local passenger trains. Railway officials have also partially cancelled two mail/express trains, so a total of 371 trains were affected during the day. As well as the cancellations, protesters have blocked roads and railway tracks as well as set fire to train coaches.
The Centre’s announcement of the
for recruitment of soldiers in the armed forces, proposes to recruit soldiers in all three armed forces for four years and retire 75 per cent of them without pension and other social security benefits after the end of their term. The announcement has been met with violent protests by youths in various parts of the country.
In Bihar, where a strike was called Saturday in support of the agitation, bandh supporters set fire to Taregana railway station in Masaurhi sub-division of Patna district. The railways’ East Central zone, headquartered in Bihar’s Hajipur, said that in view of the prevailing situation, 32 trains have been cancelled in the state.
“To ensure safety and security of passengers and railway property, trains originating in other zones will ply through ECR only after 8 PM on Saturday and continue till 4 AM on Sunday. Movement of such trains will be restored at 8 PM on Sunday,” said ECR Chief Public Relations Officer Virendra Kumar.
With PTI inputs