Agnipath protest update: Indian Railways cancels over 491 trains

With protests against the new Agnipath recruitment scheme for armed forces all across the nation, Indian Railways has confirmed that a total of 491 trains have been affected. Due to the agitation going on in various corners of the county, Indian Railways has informed that as many as 254 passenger trains and 229 mail express are cancelled, whereas around 8 mail express trains have been partially cancelled. Moreover, due to operational reasons, a total of 31 trains had to be terminated before they could reach their destinations. In addition, Mumbai-bound trains initiation from Punjab will also remain cancelled on June 20.

Due to the agitation observed in East Central Railway jurisdiction, seven trains stood cancelled on June 19. These trains originate from various cities of Bihar and West Bengal. Also, around 10 trains from these states were rescheduled for June 20.

Further, the route of another two trains originating from cities in Bihar and West Bengal has been curtailed on June 20."In the three days (from June 15 to June 17), around 620 people have been arrested and as many as 130 First Information Reports (FIRs) have been registered in Bihar," Sanjay Singh ADG, Law and Order, had said earlier on the protests against Agnipath recruitment scheme, adding that "140 people were arrested on Saturday".

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As per the East Central Railway, over 60 trains were cancelled till Saturday and two were terminated due to the prevailing law and order problems and threat perception to the railway property and passengers in Bihar.

The Union Cabinet on June 14 approved a recruitment scheme for Indian youth to serve in the three services of the Armed Forces called Agnipath and the youth selected under this scheme will be known as Agniveer.

Notably, Agnipath is a pan India merit-based recruitment scheme for enrolling soldiers, airmen and sailors. The scheme provides an opportunity for the youth to serve in the regular cadre of the armed forces. All those recruited under the Agnipath Scheme will be called ‘Agniveers’. Agniveers will be enrolled for a service duration of 4 years including the training period. After four years, only 25 per cent of the Agniveers will be retained or re-enlisted in the regular cadre based on merit, willingness and medical fitness.

With inputs from ANI