Agnipath Protestors Vandalise Secunderabad Railway Station Premises, Set Train Ablaze

New Delhi: Tensions over the Centre’s Agnipath Army recruitment scheme have reached Telangana’s Hyderabad. Protesters also set a train on fire inside the Secunderabad railway station on Friday, June 17.

The situation only got tenser as the protesters started fires, which began to grow larger even as the stone pelting continued. Students could also be seen running into the railway station and pelting stones at the trains.

Rubber bullets were fired by police personnel present there and two people have been injured. Police are attempting to arrest the miscreants.

Protests over the Centre’s Agnipath scheme have been raging across Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, leaving vehicles vandalised and trains set ablaze.

Students in Bihar indulged in stone-pelting, vandalised vehicles and set fire to trains. Police arrested 16 protesters for vandalism, looting and arson at a railway station and booked 650 unidentified people on Thursday.

The Ministry of Defence, in its statement, said that the scheme has been designed to enable a youthful profile of the Armed Forces. It will provide an opportunity to the youth who may be keen to don the uniform by attracting young talent from the society who are more in tune with contemporary technological trends and plough back skilled, disciplined and motivated manpower into the society.

As for the Armed Forces, it will enhance the youthful profile of the Armed Forces and provide a fresh lease of ‘Josh’ and ‘Jazba’ whilst at the same time bringing about a transformational shift towards a more tech-savvy Armed Forces – which is indeed the need of the hour.

It is envisaged that the average age profile of the Indian Armed forces would come down by about 4-5 years by the implementation of this scheme. Agnipath Scheme was recently launched by the government in an effort to bring a change in the recruitment process of the Armed Forces.

With the new military recruitment scheme facing a backlash by Opposition, the Centre has decided to bring a change in the upper age limit for recruiting Agniveers.