A total of 200 train services have been affected due to the ongoing agitation against the government’s short-term recruitment scheme for the armed forces, reported news agency ANI. Hundreds of angry youths vented their ire against the Agnipath scheme by burning train coaches, vandalising railroad property and blocking rail tracks and highways with boulders.
In Uttar Pradesh, a large number of youth vandalised two trains at Ballia railway station and set ablaze a compartment of a train in Washing line. Violent protests in Secunderabad left one dead and at least eight critically injured after police opened fire to control agitators who ransacked the railway stations and pelted stones.
In Bihar’s Samastimpur, protesters torched train coaches of Jammu Tawi-Guwahati Lohit Express and ransacked the station premises. The protesters also blocked road traffic near Dharmpur chowk in Samastipur town. Protest-related unrest was reported from various parts of Buxar, rural Patna, Arwal, Khagaria, Bhojpur, and Lakhisarai districts.
