Kolkata: Police arrest anti-Agnipath demonstrators close to CM Mamata’s house

By PTI

KOLKATA: Police on Saturday afternoon clashed with agitating members of the All India Democratic Students Organisation (AIDSO) and All India Democratic Youth Organisation (AIDYO) once they tried to dam roads protesting towards the Centre’s ‘Agnipath’ scheme within the southern a part of the town’s Hazra space, 100 metres from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s residence.

Protesting the scheme, the activists demanded that recruits into India’s armed forces be given everlasting jobs fairly than be taken in beneath the “Agnipath” scheme which employs a soldier on a contract for 4 years.

An enormous police drive led by senior officers cleared the world, arresting over 20 activists.

“We will not allow anyone to disturb the law and order here. We will deal with such kinds of attempts very strictly,” the police officer commanding the deployment stated.

All police stations within the metropolis and the districts of West Bengal have been alerted and requested to maintain tight vigil on areas beneath their jurisdiction to keep away from any untoward incident, he stated.

The Centre on Tuesday unveiled ‘Agnipath’ scheme for the recruitment within the Army, Navy and the Air Force, in a serious overhaul of the decades-old choice course of.

Protestors continued to focus on railway properties in Bihar and West Bengal on Saturday to vent their ire towards the scheme disrupting practice providers within the japanese area for the fourth day in a row, whereas demonstrations had been held on roads in Odisha and Jharkhand.

Job aspirants additionally did push-ups on a highway in Bihar capital Patna and on railway tracks in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas, whereas one youth ran 60 kilometres in Odisha’s Nabarangpur as marks of their opposition to the ‘Agnipath’ short-term recruitment scheme.

In Bihar, protestors torched the Taregana railway station in Patna district and a GRP car whereas a number of legislation enforcers had been injured in stone-throwing in Jehanabad when a bandh was additionally known as to press for the demand for rollback of the brand new scheme for recruitment in armed forces.

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They additionally exchanged gunshots with GRP personnel, engaged in heavy stone-pelting and beat up journalists overlaying the conflict.

In Danapur sub-division, bandh supporters vandalised an ambulance and the driving force alleged {that a} affected person and attendants inside had been additionally crushed up by the mob.

The ECR headquarters in Hajipur stated that in view of the prevailing scenario, 32 trains have been cancelled.

The railways have suffered huge losses in Bihar throughout protests within the final three days.

More than 60 practice coaches, 10 engines and a few stations have been torched by teams protesting towards the introduction of the brand new recruitment system whereby 75 per cent of jawans shall be retired after 4 years of service, with no pension advantages.

Bandh supporters had attacked a police outpost in Jehanabad district, leaving a number of police personnel injured.

A big police contingent was deployed in entrance of the state headquarters of the BJP, which has been on the receiving finish of the protests, with lots of its senior leaders having been bodily attacked and its workplaces in at the very least three districts being set ablaze since Thursday.

In West Bengal, practice providers on the Sealdah-Barrackpore route in North 24 Parganas district had been disrupted for round an hour as a bunch of anti-Agnipath agitators blocked railway tracks and did push-ups.

Around 20 protesters blocked each up and down traces at a stage crossing from round 10 AM thus additionally affecting vehicular site visitors, a spokesperson of the Eastern Railway stated.

The demonstration affected railway providers throughout workplace hours, and lots of commuters ready at Barrackpore station reached the protest website and an altercation ensued with the agitators.

The police on Saturday afternoon clashed with agitating members of the All India Democratic Students Organisation and All India Democratic Youth Organisation once they tried to dam roads close to Kolkata’s Hazra space, 100 metres from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s residence.

In Odisha, a job aspirant ran 60 km in Nabarangpur whereas numerous agitators sat in dharna close to the income divisional commissioner’s workplace in Berhampur in Ganjam district.

The agitators together with many who cleared the bodily assessments held earlier, raised slogans at Berhampur demanding withdrawal of the ‘Agnipath’ scheme and demanded at the very least 15 years of service within the Armed Forces as an alternative of 4 after choice.

East Coast Railways has cancelled or brief terminated a number of trains passing by means of Odisha from Visakhapatnam in view of the protests.

In Jharkhand, demonstrations had been held at Dhanbad and Morabadi in Ranchi whereas safety was intensified within the state BJP headquarters with the deployment of RAF personnel, officers stated.