Mob vandalises train in UP’s Ballia during protest over Agnipath scheme

A mob vandalised a train on Friday morning at the Ballia railway station in Uttar Pradesh during a protest against the Centre’s Agnipath recruitment scheme.

Police forces have been deployed at the station to disperse the crowd.

“Forces have been deployed at the station since morning. A few hooligans reached there but they were stopped from damaging much; they attempted stone-pelting. Action being taken,” Ballia DM Saumya Agarwal told reporters.

On Thursday, angry demonstrations roiled seven states, stretching from Uttarakhand in the north to Bihar in the east and Madhya Pradesh in central India. At least 180 people were injured. The row also took a political turn with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) courting criticism from several Opposition parties and ally Janata Dal (United) — which rules Bihar, the site of the most violent protests, in a coalition — even as the government moved to reassure agitators.

The protesters were angry with changes introduced under the new scheme, particulary the length of service, no pension provisions for those released early, and particularly the fact that restricting the age limit to 21 would have kept many of the aspirants completely out of the fold considering the recruitment was halted for two years.

In Bihar, train bogies were burnt in three districts, two BJP lawmakers, Aruna Devi and CN Gupta, were attacked in separate incidents, and a BJP office was torched in Madhubani.

Protestors burnt tyres at several places to block traffic, a train station was vandalised in Chhapra and passenger trains were blocked at many places, resulting in the railways cancelling 30 passenger trains and 40 others getting delayed by several hours. Police resorted to lathicharge and tear gas shells at many places to disperse protesters.

Additional director general (law and order) Sanjay Singh said at least two dozen First Information Reports (FIRs) were filed against protestors and at least 15 police personnel injured in stone pelting. Eastern Railway spokesperson, Birendra Kumar, said train movement became normal only around 3.30pm.

In Haryana’s Palwal, about 85km from Delhi, police posted at the district collector’s office fired several rounds of bullets to disperse young men who started hurtling stones at the building. At least 15 police personnel were seriously injured. The mob torched five police control room vans and blocked the national highway to Agra.

Mukesh Malhotra, Palwal’s superintendent of police, said some young men gathered around 11am near the residence of the deputy commissioner and were protesting peacefully but some antisocial elements instigated the mob.

In the evening, Haryana suspended internet services for 24 hours in Palwal and formed two special police teams to investigate the incident. In Rewari, police had to use mild force to disperse the angry crowd. Protests were also reported from three places in Gurugram and Rohtak.

In Gwalior, at least 20 vehicles were torched, and two train bogies and a train station were vandalised during protests at three places. Police arrested 10 people and detained 50. Two people, including a passenger and a journalist, were injured and police used 50 rounds of tear gas shells to control the mob. Roads were blocked in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr and Ballia towns and agitations reported from Ghaziabad, Meerut, Unnao, Gorakhpur and Gonda, the state police said. “We strongly opposed the new recruitment scheme. We want the old recruitment scheme back,” said a protestor, Sagar Tomar, in Meerut. Police said the protestors were largely peaceful.

At two places in Jammu town, police resorted to lathi charge, and detained army aspirants. “It takes years of training to get into the army. We cleared physical, medical and our documents were verified by the authorities in the past two years. And, today they are telling us that our written exam stands cancelled,” said a protester.

In Himachal Pradesh, angry protestors clashed with police on a day Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived on a two-day visit to the state. Demonstrations were held at Gaggal, Kangra, Nagrota Bagwan, Mandi, Hamirpur.

In Rajasthan, peaceful protests were reported from Jodhpur, Sikar, Jaipur, Nagaur, Ajmer and Jhunjhunu districts. Protests were also reported from Jharkhand’s capital, Ranchi, Nangoli railway station in Delhi and Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand.

The most violent protests were reported from Bihar, which accounts for about 10% of the army recruitment. Protestors set on fire bogies of three passenger trains at Bhabua Road railway station, Sidhwalia (Gopalganj) and Chhapra railway stations.

In Nawada, BJP lawmaker Aruna Devi, who was on her way to local court, was attacked by agitators. who hurled stones at her car, leaving five people, including her driver, injured. Later, a group of agitators torched the BJP’s district office at Atau in the same district. Another BJP MLA, CN Gupta, found his house ransacked in Chhapra town. In Madhubani, protesters torched the BJP office after ransacking it.

On Tuesday, defence minister Rajnath Singh, along with the three service chiefs, announced the Agnipath scheme for induction of soldiers between 17.5 and 21 years for a four-year period. In the new policy, only a quarter of the initial intake will eventually be absorbed into the forces and allowed to serve for an additional 15 years after a second round of screening.

The government argues that the scheme will boost intake to 46,000 a year. It has also said that Agniveers will be absorbed on priority in other central security forces and be eligible for government jobs such as in the railways.

But some veterans raised concerns about the combat-readiness of the new recruits, their levels of motivation, and whether the prospect of a short tenure will make them risk averse.

With inputs from ANI.