Picture : Twitter / ANI
As many as 34 trains were cancelled and eight more partially cancelled on Thursday due to protests against the Agnipath scheme to recruit youngsters into the armed forces and delays in the Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) exams.
The railways said 72 trains were also running late due to the protests. Five mail and express trains and 29 passenger trains were cancelled.
Protests were reported from several places across the country against the Agnipath scheme.
Protests against the scheme continued across Bihar for the second consecutive day on Thursday as the demonstrators disrupted railway and road traffic in Jehanabad, Buxar and Nawada districts.
People blocked the movement of trains on the Patna-Gaya and Patna-Buxar routes by lying down on the railway tracks in Jehanabad and Buxar districts. They were removed from the tracks by the police.
Several aspirants for the armed forces are unhappy with the changes introduced under the new recruitment scheme for the Indian Army, particularly the length of service, no pension provisions for those released early, and the 17.5 to 21-year age restriction that now makes many of them ineligible.
Agitations have spilled over to several districts as youths protested by lying down on the railway tracks, and blocking roads, demanding the scrapping of the scheme.
At least three trains were set on fire in Bihar as protests against the Centre’s Agnipath recruitment scheme turned violent in the Chhapra, Gopalganj and Kaimur districts
