Security has been beefed up at two major railway stations — Guntur and Nallapadu — in view of violent protests against the Agnipath scheme in many parts of India. Local police personnel were also deployed at Army Recruiting Office (ARO) at Syamala Nagar and all roads leading to it have been cordoned off. Security has also been tightened at the BJP office.
The police also took some army recruitment aspirants in Guntur into preventive custody. Police sources said that about 150 persons, most of them army recruitment aspirants, were taken into custody at Nallapadu, Nagarampalem, Tadepalli and Kothapet.
DIG of Police Trivikram Verma and Superintendent of Police K. Arif Hafeez monitored the situation at the railway station on Friday evening.
Additional forces deployed
Additional forces were deployed at the entrance of the railway station at Kothapet. Divisional Railway Manager R. Mohana Raja also visited the railway station and is monitoring the situation.
The ARO is the nodal centre for recruiting army personnel. A recruitment enrollment drive takes place there every six months. In June 2021, over 35,000 young men took part in the recruitment rally including physical fitness test at Brahmananda Reddy stadium.
Mr. Hafeez said that security has been stepped at all vital government installations in view of an intelligence alert.
