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Agnipath protests: Operations at Ludhiana railway station peaceful amid Bharat Bandh call
Ludhiana railway station turns into fortress with deployment of 200 cops in view of Bharat Bandh call given by army aspirants who are protesting against Agnipath scheme ; 18 more held for vandalising railway station
Operations at the Ludhiana railway station remained peaceful amid heavy security deployment in view of the Bharat bandh call given by army aspirants who are protesting against the Agnipath scheme on Monday.
The station had turned into a fortress where over 200 cops were deployed, including 150 security personnel of the Ludhiana Commisionerate Police along with security forces of the Government Railway Police (GRP), Railway Protection Force (RPF), anti-sabotage squads, dog squads and bomb squads.
The security at the station was supervised directly by Ludhiana commissioner of policeKaustubh Sharma.
Sharma along with senior police officers, including joint CP Saumya Mishra, GRP SP operations, Amandeep Kaur, GRP DSP Balram Rana, ADCP Parminderjit Singh, ACP Jaspreet Singh, ACP Fateh Singh Brar, ACP Sarabjit Singh Brar along with various station house officers inspected the station to ensure the security of the passengers and avoid any untoward incidents.
Vandalising property at rly station: 18 more held
However, two days after around 70 protesters went on a rampage, vandalising property at the Ludhiana railway station, the police arrested 18 more persons in the case taking the total number of arrests to 24.
CP Kaustubh Sharma said that more arrests are likely to be made soon in the case.
Sources added that the Ludhiana police didn’t allow a meeting of Agnipath protesters at the Rose Garden here on Sunday.
Probe marked for CID ‘failure’
Talking about the failure of the intelligence wing of the police, the CP said that an internal departmental probe has been initiated to investigate if there was a failure of the intelligence or security forces.
“Action will be taken against those who would be held responsible for not being able to gather information or act timely letting around 80 people gather in Ludhiana,” the CP said.
He said that while most of the accused were army aspirants, police have also held a few people who didn’t have anything to do with the armed forces but were part of the protest.
“We have arrested one such accused, Gurprtap from Halwara village in Ludhiana, who was not an army aspirant but still was part of the group which vandalised a police vehicle. There are few more people who were not directly involved in it, including one Mukesh, who revealed that he brought petrol to the station,” the CP added.
Moreover, representatives of various unions on Monday reached the GRP thana to meet those held for rioting and requested police officials to adopt a soft attitude towards them citing them to be army aspirants.
Trains to Bihar cancelled, passengers a hassled lot
Passengers continued to face harassment even on Monday and had to return home in sheer disappointment finding that their respective trains were cancelled in the wake of the Bharat bandh call.
The Ferozepur Division of Northern Railways cancelled around 15 trains plying to Bihar scheduled on Monday as a preventive measure as a few trains were torched by the protesting mob against the Agnipath recruitment policy of the Central government.
To tighten the security, the railway security forces barricaded entry points of the station and didn’t allow any vehicle to get in.
The passengers were dropped and picked up at the gate of the station for safety purposes.
3-hr blackout at station
The Ludhiana station, which is the busiest station in the state, witnessed a complete blackout for over three hours on Sunday late evening increasing challenges for the security forces deputed there in the wake of the Bharat bandh call by the protesters.
There was no power at the station even when the Ludhiana CP along with other senior police officials visited there on Sunday evening to take stock of the security arrangements.
Abhinav Singal, station director, remained unavailable for comment.
A food eatery joint owner at the station, however, said that customers didn’t turn up due to power cuts leading to a loss in sales.
