Agnipath protests: Bharat Bandh passes off peacefully in Bihar

The day-long Bharat Bandh, called by various students’ organisations in protest against short service recruitment scheme for defence forces, Agnipath, on Monday, passed off peacefully in Bihar, except for stray incidents of protesters taking to the streets amid heavy security deployment

The day-long Bharat Bandh, called by various students’ organisations in protest against short service recruitment scheme for defence forces, Agnipath, on Monday, passed off peacefully in Bihar, except for stray incidents of protesters taking to the streets amid heavy security deployment.

At Patna railway station on Monday. (Santosh Kumar/HT Photo)

There was, however, visible impact on movement of trains, which remained affected throughout the day.

Vehicular traffic on the streets of Patna was almost normal, though most of the shops and small business establishments remain shuttered.

Mobile internet services, which were suspended in 20 districts of the state in view of the protests, are likely to resume in some parts, as there was no requisition to keep it down from any of the districts till late Monday evening, according to officials aware of the matter.

The police, however, continued their crackdown on the perpetrators of violence. “So far, 879 people have been arrested and 159 FIRs have been lodged by the police in different districts,” said a home department official, adding that raids were being conducted to arrest some coaching institute owners.

The East Central Railway (ECR) has cancelled 348 trains, while three trains had short terminations and 12 trains were rescheduled in view of the countrywide shutdown. Travellers, who had booked their tickets in Patna-bound Rajdhani express for Monday from New Delhi, had a harrowing time managing their onward journey owing to last-minute cancellation of the train.

Birendra Kumar, chief public relations officer (CPRO), ECR, said they would try restoring normal movement of express and passenger trains from Monday night. Patna Rajdhani, Sampoorn Kranti Express and other important trains would start playing from Monday night, he said.

Meanwhile, chief secretary Aamir Subhani held a virtual meeting with the district magistrates and senior police officers in the evening to take stock of the situation. During the meeting, the superintendents of police (SPs) have been directed to arrest all the persons involved in creating public disorder and damaging public property.

The Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC) leaders took out a march from the state party headquarter in support of the students’ protest against the new recruitment policy of the armed forces. However, they were made to terminate the programme at the party office only by the police.