Punjab and Hayana continued to see protests against the Agnipath scheme with some youths setting a vehicle on fire outside Mahendergarh railway station on Saturday while a group of over 50 agitators barged inside Ludhiana railway station in Punjab causing damage to property.
A police official from Mahendergarh, which has seen strong protests against the defence recruitment scheme over the past few days, said that a group of youth set a pick-up van on fire and indulged in vandalism. A railway engineer at Mahendergarh, whose residential quarter is adjacent to the railway station, said that some protesters barged inside his building complex and damaged an office, and a generator set.
In Punjab, a group of over 50 youths, who had their faces covered with a cloth, barged inside the Ludhiana railway complex. As some were carrying sticks they smashed many glass panes and ticket counters, police said. The protesters were demanding that recruitment to the Army should be held like earlier.
Some passengers who were to catch a train to various destinations in UP and Bihar said a group of youth suddenly barged inside and started breaking the glass panes. In Jalandhar, youths took out a march and later held a protest. They took out a protest march from Rama Mandi chowk to PAP chowk and blocked the national highway and demanded that the Centre should withdraw the Agnipath scheme.
Earlier on Friday, job aspirants had staged a protest in Hoshiarpur district against the Centre's Agnipath scheme and demanded its rollback. Meanwhile, protests against the Agnipath scheme continued in many parts of Haryana. Youths also held a protest in Sonipat and blocked the Rohtak-Panipat highway. In Kaithal they took out protest marches while protests were also held in Fatehabad and Jind.
On Friday, Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij had warned of action against those indulging in violence and damaging public property. The Centre on Tuesday unveiled the ambitious Agnipath scheme for the recruitment of youths aged between 17 and a half and 21 in Army, Navy and Air Force, largely on a four-year short-term contractual basis. On Thursday night, it raised the upper age limit for recruitment under the 'Agnipath' scheme to 23 years for 2022 as the protests against the new model for enrolment of soldiers into the three services spread. Those recruited under the scheme will be known as 'Agniveers'. After the completion of the four-year tenure, 25 percent of the recruits from each batch will be offered regular service. Haryana districts like Rewari, Charkhi Dadri, Gurugram and Palwal send a sizable number of youths to the defence forces.
PUNJAB CM CLAIMS AGNIPATH SCHEME WILL DILUTE ARMY'S FIGHTING ABILITY; DEMANDS ROLLBACK
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday demanded a rollback of the Agnipath recruitment scheme for defense services and said those who cleared physical tests in the last two years must get a chance to appear in written exams for joining the Army. He claimed that this Agnipath scheme will ''dilute'' the fighting ability of soldiers. It will also render the youth jobless after a four-year stint in the armed forces that too without any security for the future, Mann said. It is ridiculous that in the last two years, thousands of youth cleared the physical test of the armed forces but they have not been called for the written exams, he said in a statement.
On the contrary, the Central government, in a ''whimsical'' move, introduced the Agnipath scheme which allows a short service of four years to youths in the armed forces without any pension, Mann said. The Punjab chief minister said, ''This is a grave injustice for the youth of the country who want to serve their motherland by joining the Indian Army.'' He said the Union government must take back this scheme and allow the youth, who had cleared their physical test in the last two years, to sit in the written exam. ''This will give them a fair chance to join the armed forces.'' ''This is the need of the hour as this irrational move (Agnipath scheme) has put the country on the boil as the youth from every nook and corner of India are agitating against this decision,'' Mann said. The Punjab chief minister said, ''This half-baked policy is absurd. It will further push the youth into a vicious cycle of unemployment and poverty which will be detrimental for unity, integrity, and sovereignty of the country.'' Mann had on Friday also demanded an immediate rollback of the Agnipath scheme, calling it an insult to the Army and a loss for the youth.
