Lagatar24 Desk
Patna, June 17: As protests over the new military recruiting policy ‘Agnipath’ reached their third day in Bihar this morning, a violent mob set trains on fire. The initiative has been defended by the government, which has described it as “transformative.”
The demonstrators are calling for the short-term recruitment strategy to be scrapped, citing concerns about their job security and pension benefits, as well as the four-year tenure as being too short.
On Tuesday, the Centre presented Agnipath, a plan that will see the majority of troops depart the army in only four years – 45,000 to 50,000 hopefuls will be recruited annually, but only 25% will be permitted to stay for another 15 years under permanent commission.
On Friday morning, hundreds of demonstrators surrounded the Ballia Lakhminiya railway station in Bihar’s Begusarai district. Trains have been halted on the line after protesters squatted on the rails and set fire to tyres.
The current protests in Samastipur got violent when protestors set fire to the AC coach of the Bihar Sampark Kranti Express.
Demonstrators stopped the Kosi Express near Khagaria, halting train service on the route. Protesters also blocked traffic on the National Highway that runs through the area. They also set fire to tyres.
Protesters barricaded rails and stopped trains in Buxar as the uproar over the Agnipath proposal raged on. Many applicants also flocked to the Dumraon railway station, where they staged protests.
Protesters clogged numerous main roads in Munger areas, bringing traffic to a halt. They have fully blocked the Sri Krishna Setu, as well as the road from Munger to Khagaria Begusarai or from Begusarai and Khagaria to Munger via Bhagalpur-Patna.
