Eastern Rlys cancels 32 trains due to Agnipath protests

KOLKATA: Eastern Railway cancelled 32 trains due to agitation against Centre's Agnipath recruitment scheme for armed forces causing trouble to the passengers waiting on the platform for the last two days.

The constant cancellation over the agitation in the areas under the East Central Railway (Bihar) has led to passengers waiting on platforms in stations and worrying about the future course of their journey. Most of them are people who have a connecting train from Howrah to other places or are travelling home or need to reach their destination urgently.

One of them is Subhod Kumar Yadav, a labourer from Nalanda in Bihar who is waiting for two days at the Howrah station for a train to travel back home. He was travelling in a group from Chennai to Howrah and was supposed to take a train from Howrah to Patna.

"This is giving me flashbacks of pandemic times when I had to travel from Bangalore to Nalanda and had to walk back home. The trouble now is I am stuck at a place where I have no accommodation and expenses have gone haywire," Yadav said.

Like him, others too were waiting for trains to travel and have been sucked dry financially. "All we want now is to return home," another passenger to Patna said.

Passengers of the cancelled trains have been trying to find ways to travel back through buses. But they remain unsuccessful as buses are running full from Kolkata to different places in Bihar. Moreover the rates have gone up seeing the demand. Usually a ticket would cost Rs 700, now private buses are costing Rs 1500 for the same route.

This disruption has been caused over Centre's new Agnipath scheme, which will recruit youth for four years in the army. Post which they will be given assistance for the career path they choose. If a person wants to become an entrepreneur, loan and assistance will be given and in case a person wants to continue with studies, they will be given a 12-equivalent certificate.

After protesters agitated for the government to take back the scheme and let the usual recruitment process to army remain i.e. service for at least 15 years, the government offered alteration to the scheme with 10 percent reservation for Agniveers in vacancies for the Central Armed Police Forces and Assam Rifles.

However, agitation continued in Bihar where it turned violent with trains, vehicles on roads being burnt. The disruption of rail lines took place in ECR.