Agnipath protest: Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Friday informed Rajya Sabha that Indian Railways suffered a loss of Rs 259.44 crores due to damage and destruction of its assets in agitations against the Agnipath Scheme.
Amid the mass protests in several parts of the country against the recently launched Agnipath Scheme, railway properties were vandalised, torched or attacked from Bihar to Telangana. The worst-hit East Central Railways — covering Bihar, Jharkhand and parts of Uttar Pradesh witnessed widespread protests.
The minister also informed that more than 2000 trains were affected due to the Agnipath protests across the country. In a written reply in Rajya Sabha, he said 2132 trains were cancelled between June 15 and June 23.
Vaishnaw also said that separate data regarding amount of refund granted to passengers due to disruption of rail services on account of public disorder consequent to agitations like those held after launching of Agnipath scheme for recruitment in the armed forces, is not maintained.
All the affected train services cancelled on account of Agnipath scheme have been restored," he said.
