Muristek
Protest against Agnipath throws rail traffic in UP out of gear, violent protest goes on
The violent protest against the new army recruitment scheme Agnipath has forced railways to cancel a large number of trains in Uttar Pradesh. On Saturday, 103 trains were cancelled including 32 long-distance express. The movement of these trains was affected on Sunday also.
Meanwhile, the protest of youths against Agnipath continued on Sunday and there have been reports of stone pelting at several places. In Chandauli district, the violent protestors set ablaze the patrolling vehicle of police on early Sunday morning.
The agitated youths gheraoed the police patrol team forcing it to leave the vehicle, which was burnt later on. In the same district, youths attacked policemen in protest against the arrest of one of the agitators. The youths pelted stones at policemen and set their colleagues free. In the Deoria district, the irate mob of youths turned violent when police chased them. The incident occurred in the Barhaj area of Deoria district where the youths were taking out a protest march. On being stopped, they started pelting stones at the police and chased them.
There has been an adverse impact on the movement of trains passing through UP & Bihar due to the protest against Agnipath. According to the Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO), Northern Railway, Pankaj Kumar Singh 32 express trains, four special and 54 passenger trains were cancelled on Saturday.
However, many of the special and express trains would be cancelled on Sunday and Monday due to the protest. The New Delhi-New Jalpaiguri, Lucknow-Barauni, Lalgarh-Dibrugarh, LTT- Gorakhpur and several other trains would be cancelled on Monday too. A maximum number of passenger trains on the Varanasi route were cancelled due to protests of youths.
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