Seventeen trains originating from different stations of the Eastern Railways were cancelled on Saturday due to the ongoing agitation over the Agnipath recruitment scheme. While 15 trains that were scheduled on Saturday were cancelled, two trains — the Raxaul Summer Special and the Kolkata-Jhanshi Pratham Swatantrata Sangram Express — scheduled for Sunday, have also been cancelled.
Among the trains cancelled on Saturday were the Raxaul Mithila Express; the Gaya Express; the Kathgodam Bagh Express starting from Howrah Station; the Malda Town-Delhi Farakka Express starting from Malda and Sealdah; and the Ballia Express starting from Sealdah station. The routes of some trains have also been changed. The Sealdah-Saharsa Hatebazare Express will be short terminated at Malda Town, and the Saharsa-Sealdah Hatebazare Express will be short originated from Malda Town station, a press statement by Eastern Railway said.
This is the second consecutive day that train services have been severely disrupted. The Eastern Railway said that the cancellations and short terminations were due to the “ongoing students’ agitation in East Central Railway jurisdiction”. Hundreds of passengers who had arrived at the different stations, including at Howrah, were seen waiting at the platforms. Some passengers tried to take buses to their destinations.
While there was no violence in Kolkata on Saturday, there were protests in Kolkata and its suburbs. Supporters of the All India Democratic Students Organisation, the student wing of the Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist), held protests against the Agnipath Scheme at the Hazra crossing in the city, only a hundred metres from the residence of the Chief Minister. The protesters were picked up by the police. A group of youths also tried to block railway services by protesting on the tracks near the Barrackpore Railway Station.
Railway service along the Sealdah-Barrackpore route in North 24 Parganas district was disrupted for around an hour because of the protests, which were lifted at the intervention of the police. A large police contingent was deployed in front of the State headquarters of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
