Protest over centre’s Agnipath scheme spreads to different elements of Bihar

Express News Service

Patna: Protest over the central authorities’s Agnipath scheme for short-term recruitment of Army personnel unfold to different districts of Bihar on Thursday. Braving the scorching solar, tons of of job aspirants put up street blockades, burnt tyres and disrupted the motion of trains in Jehanabad, Nawada and Saharsa districts within the early hours of Thursday.

Reports stated the job seekers put up a street blockade and held an indication close to Prajatantra Chowk in Nawada city. They later proceeded in direction of the railway station, squatted on tracks and disrupted the motion of trains. As a outcome, a number of trains, together with Howrah-Gaya Express and Gaya-Kiul passengers remained stranded at Warsaliganj and Tilaiya railway stations, respectively.

Nawada sub-divisional Umesh Kumar Bharti together with different officers rushed to the spot and tried to take away the protestors, who weren’t in a temper to relent.

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Sub-divisional police officer Upendra Prasad stated efforts had been on to pacify the protestors and restore site visitors on the route. “We have sought additional forces to deal with the situation,” he stated.

Similar protests by job aspirants had been held in Saharsa and Jehanabad districts. The district authorities deployed armed police forces to deliver the scenario underneath management. Alarmed over the protest spreading to different districts, the state police headquarters alerted all of the SPs and requested them to provoke preventive
steps accordingly.

Earlier on Wednesday, tons of of job aspirants took to the streets and blocked National Highway 28 in Muzaffarpur by burning heaps of tyres and hoardings. They additionally squatted on railway tracks at Buxar railway station on the Howrah-New Delhi line.

Job aspirants declare that their profession could be jeopardised if the Agnipath scheme was applied as solely as much as 25 per cent of the recruits or Agniveers might get a daily fee.

Regular recruitment rallies had been stopped round two years in the past after the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic. After two years of ready for the common recruitment, the federal government has supplied them a short-term recruitment scheme, which is able to solely create uncertainties of their lives, job aspirants had been heard shouting in protest throughout the state.

““Bharti do ya arthi do’ (recruit us or kill us) was among the many slogans because the protesting jobseekers burnt tyres and hoardings in heaps on NH-28 in Muzaffarpur, which connects Bihar’s Barauni with Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh.

In Muzaffarpur, tons of of individuals laced with wood sticks took to the streets and registered their protest outdoors the Army recruitment workplace. Later, they blocked a street in Maripur by burning tyres. They additionally insisted that an Army officer ought to come to the spot and take heed to their grievances.

#WATCH | Bihar: Youth exhibit in Chhapra, burn tyres and vandalise a bus in protest in opposition to the just lately introduced #AgnipathRecruitmentScheme pic.twitter.com/Ik0pYK26KY

— ANI (@ANI) June 16, 2022

In Buxar, demonstrators squatted close to parcel go-down of Buxar railway station, disrupting the motion of a practice for at the least one hour. Later, they cleared tracks following intervention by the RPF, GRP and district police personnel.

A protester stated, “The army should raise the age bar as youths have lost two years due to the pandemic.”
“The government is playing a game with us like PUBG,” quipped a protester. 

Another protester in Buxar stated, “What can we do in these just four years as even MPs and MLAs get five-year terms.” In Begusarai too, NCC cadets and youths getting ready for Army jobs put a street blockade on the Har-Har Mahadev roundabout. They additionally carried placards, demanding rollback of the Agnipath scheme and revival of the previous recruitment course of.