The Railways has suffered a loss of about ₹259.44 crore in the current year so far, due to damage/destruction of railway assets, largely due to the protests against Agnipath scheme, Parliament was informed, on Wednesday.
“In the year 2022, Indian Railways suffered a loss of ₹259.44 crores due to damage/destruction of railway assets. Separate data regarding the amount of refund granted to passengers due to disruption of rail services on account of public disorder consequent to agitation like those held after launching of Agnipath scheme is not maintained,” Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw said, in a written reply to Lok Sabha.
He, however, added that during the period June 14-June 30, 2022, a total refund of approximately ₹102.96 crore was granted on account of cancellation of trains.
As per the data shared by the minister, during the last three years, the losses incurred by the Indian Railways due to other forms of agitation stood at ₹151 crore in 2019, ₹904 crore in 2020 and ₹62 crore in 2021. Additionally, during 2019, 2020 and 2021, the number of cases registered on account of destruction of railway property are 95, 30 and 34, respectively.
“No recoveries to compensate for the loss occurred to railways have been made so far,” he said, adding that no compensation has been paid to the passengers and their families, who died/injured during this protest.
The States of Bihar and Telangana have witnessed maximum destruction of railway property due to the law-and-order situation during the current year, up to June.
“Considering the report of High-Level Safety Review Committee (Kakodkar Committee), guidelines have been issued to Zonal Railways for filing compensation claim cases in the court of law in cases of disruption and vandalism suffered by Railways during agitations, rail roko, bandh etc,” the minister added.
Coordination maintained
Mr. Vaishnaw said that regular coordination is maintained by Railway Police Force (RPF) with the State Police/Government Railway Police (GRP) authorities at all levels for the prevention of crime, registration of cases, their investigation and maintenance of law & order in railway premises as well as in running trains.
In order to check the damage to railway property on account of protests against the launching of the Agnipath Scheme, senior officers of RPF were rushed to vulnerable locations from other non-sensitive offices/formations to actively respond to the need arising out of the situation, he said.
Further, in all incidents of damage/destruction, cases have been registered and offenders are being identified, followed with their arrest, and inquiry into these cases is closely monitored by senior officers.
“Close coordination is being made and coordinated efforts are being taken to identify and apprehend the offenders using modern technology. Preparedness to tackle such a situation is also reviewed by associating MHA, CAPFs and State Police. Social Media platforms through which perpetrators were encouraged/ incited to participate in violence were identified and disrupted. Cyber cells were tasked to identify the WhatsApp group and to track the social media platforms to gather movements of perpetrators so that their activities and movements could be monitored,” he said.
