Protests sparked by Centre’s ‘Agnipath’ scheme turn violent in Bihar; trains set afire

TIL Desk/National/Patna/ Trains were set afire, window panes of buses smashed and passersby, including a ruling BJP MLA, pelted with stones on Thursday in Bihar by Army job aspirants whose protest against the Centre’s short-term recruitment scheme, ‘Agnipath’, continued for the second consecutive day.

Police fired teargas shells and charged baton to disperse the angry youngsters who blocked railway tracks, threw burning tyres on roads and performed push-ups and other drills on the streets as a mark of protest against the new recruitment process, under which hiring has been proposed for a four-year-period followed by compulsory retirement, for at least 75 per cent of the personnel, without any pension benefits.

In Nawada, the vehicle of BJP MLA Aruna Devi, who was on her way to a court, was attacked by the agitators who hurled stones at her car, leaving five persons, including the legislator, injured. “The protesters seemed to have been provoked by the sight of the party flag, fitted on my car, which they tore. My driver, two security guards and two personal staff members have sustained injuries,” the MLA told reporters, adding that she was “too shaken” to have registered a police complaint.