Army veterans, cops bat for Agnipath scheme in Noida

Noida: Former military personnel and district police officials in Gautam Budh Nagar held a meeting with mediapersons in Sector 29 on Monday and took queries regarding the Agnipath scheme launched by the Union government last week

Noida: Former military personnel and district police officials in Gautam Budh Nagar held a meeting with mediapersons in Sector 29 on Monday and took queries regarding the Agnipath scheme launched by the Union government last week. The move comes after violence erupted in parts of the district by agitators against the scheme.

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Colonel Shailendra Singh, a resident of Arun Vihar, said, “The country needs a young Army and with the Agnipath scheme, it will be able to ensure that a majority of its force at any given time is between the ages of 17 to 23. Moreover, the 75% personnel who will be retired after four years will have more avenues open for them and they will be given priority employment in public sector undertakings as well as banks and other defence forces of the country”.

The former Army personnel said that the motive of the meeting was to ensure their message goes across to the protesters through the media.

“It seems that genuine Army aspirants have been misled by anti-social and politically motivated elements. As a result, a lot of wrong information and myths about the scheme is being circulated. As former Armymen, it is our duty to inform the youths that the scheme will not harm anyone’s career,” said Colonel IP Singh, another resident of Arun Vihar.

Ranvijay Singh, the additional deputy commissioner of police (Noida), who was also present during the briefing said, “Those who are violently protesting and agitating, damaging public property and attacking police personnel, are being identified and arrested. Such violent protesters will not be able to join the Army in the future. We request youths to not indulge in violent activities under the garb of protest”.

Meanwhile, SK Jain, president of Noida’s Sector 18 market association said that traders in the city did not extend their support the ‘Bharat Bandh’ call in protest against the Agnipath scheme and shops remained open.

“After two years of uncertainty due to the Covid-19 pandemic, business is gradually picking up in the markets. In such a situation, the priority of the traders is only to do business and any kind of agitation is not in our interest,” Jain added.

On Friday, a group of about 250 aspirants had also blocked traffic along the Yamuna Expressway for nearly an hour. Eventually, police managed to stop the protest and booked about 225 people. Officials said that eight police personnel and a driver of a privately-run bus suffered injuries in the ensuing violence in the Jewar area of the district.