Secunderabad protests : Seven hours of ordeal for police, passengers

HYDERABAD: Hundreds of unemployed youths who were protesting against the Centre’s Agnipath military recruitment scheme in Secunderabad on Friday, entered the railway track from the opening above Oliphant Bridge near the Rathifile bus depot, shouting slogans of ‘Save Army’ ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ ‘Jai Jawan Jai Kisan’.

At around 8 am they entered the railway tracks. Hundreds of army aspirants, mostly post teenage groups, expressed their distress in a violent form, and damaged crores of rupees worth public property, putting thousands of passengers who missed trains into a lot of hardship.

Several police personnel got injured in the melee and people on the railway station premises had to rush back homes taking alternative transport and some ended up in lodges around. The agitation went on till 3 pm, and at one point, the agitators tried to move to Gandhi Hospital, as their injured group members were getting treated there. However, the police did not allow them to move out of the place.
An agitator who spoke to this correspondent at the railway tracks, said, “We have been working hard for the past two years to get into the army, practising for physical fitness, and preparing for the written test. We had cleared medical and physical tests and verifications of certificates, out of many thousands we cleared and now we are eligible for the job. How can they bring new policies at this point? Why do politicians interfere in army policies?”

As the agitation started, passengers waiting on all platforms were pushed out of the station. After that no one was allowed to enter the station. Travellers who were unaware of developments and came to the station were stopped at the main entrances of Secunderabad Railway Station.