KOLKATA: The Agnipath protests reached Bengal on Friday, prompting Nabanna to issue an alert to all districts. The state secretariat asked all district police not to allow road and train blocks, which affected the general public.
Protests and blocks were reported from different parts of Bengal with agitators demanding withdrawal of Agnipath, carrying the national flag and doing push-ups.
A mob blocked trains at Thakurnagar in Bongaon since 7.30am, disrupting services on the Sealadah-Bongaon section. A large contingent of railway police reached the spot and the rail block was lifted around 9.30am. The agitators went to the Bongaon home of Union minister Santanu Thakur and three groups submitted their memorandums to him. They claimed the new recruitment process did not have any provision for post-retirement benefits. “We want to meet the MP-cum-Union minister to submit a memorandum, demanding the withdrawal of Agnipath to protect and secure jobs in the Army. The planning in the scheme should be rectified or we won’t get jobs in the Army,” said Samrat Samanta, a protester.The entire Thakurbari was cordoned off by the central force.
A group of youths marched down Howrah bridge and blocked traffic. North Port police and Howrah Traffic Guard later dispersed the protesters. Protests were reported from Barakar Road in Purulia and in Siliguri, a rally was taken out from Salugara to Deshbandhu Para. Protesters at Bhatpara had blokced Arya Samaj More on Thursday evening.
(inputs by Sanjib Chakraborty, Rupak Banerjee, Roshan Gupta)
