Agnipath violence: Several people gather at WMGH

Warangal: Several people including the TRS party activists, and leaders on Saturday gathered at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital herein Warangal, and mourned the death of Damera Rakesh, who was killed in the police firing at the Secunderabad railway station on Friday. Wearing black ribbons and scarves, they raised slogans against the Modi-led Union government holding it responsible for the loss of a youngster who dreamt of serving the nation by joining the armed forces.

The scene at this government run hospital reminded the tragic scenes witnessed following the sacrifices of lives of people during the Telangana movement. Several leaders including Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao, Satyavathi Rathod, MLAs Dasyam Vinay Bhaskar, Nannapuneni Narender and others have visited the mortuary at the MGM Hospital where the body was kept and consoled the parents and other family members of Rakesh.

The parents of Rakesh, Kumara Swamy and Poolamma were still in shock over the most dreadful event that claimed the life of their only son. They lamented that their son wished to serve the nation and sacrifice his life for the sake of the protection of the country, but he was killed in the police firing.

"I demand the Central government to withdraw the Agnipath scheme to save the lives of many other youngsters as they were not happy with this new scheme," Kumaraswamy said while he was fighting to hold back his tears.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi must apologize to the nation and to the parents of Rakesh over the Agnipath scheme.

"Modi is playing with the lives of lakhs of youths who are dreaming to join the armed forces with the introduction of the Agnipath. He must withdraw the scheme immediately," Rao demanded. Meanwhile, the body will be shifted to Dabeerapet village in a mini-truck in a procession to perform the final rites.

It is to mention here that on Saturday One of the biggest railway stations in the country, Secunderabad was rocked by violence as the youth went on rampage, setting fire to trains and vandalising the station in protest against the Agnipath defence recruitment scheme.

The railway authorities allege that there was a total failure on the part of intelligence which led to mob violence. The agitators had set four coaches on fire and caused immense problems to the passengers some of whom had to break the windowpanes and jump out as the mob had set on fire an AC coach which had passengers on board.

Railway DRM Abhay Kumar Gupta estimated the loss at Rs 7 crore. He said there was no damage to the signalling system or electric lines which helped them re-start the operations within an hour of police clearing the platforms.

He said around 18 express and nine passenger trains were cancelled. In addition, 65 MMTS, metro train services and TSRTC bus services were cancelled.

The violence and arson unleashed by protestors appeared to be a well-planned incident. It is learnt that the alleged rioters had formed WhatsApp groups to execute their action plan at the railway station in advance.

The protestors arrived at the railway station on Thursday night and conducted a recce. They came from different districts mainly from Karimnagar, Warangal, Medak, Nalgonda and even Kurnool to stage a dharna against the Agnipath scheme. According to eyewitnesses, more than 1,000 youth began the protest around 9 am with a sit-in near the railway station. First, they raised slogans demanding the cancellation of Agnipath scheme and attacked the buses. Then they entered the platform without anyone stopping them as there are many entry points and with no presence of the police.

The railway police were outnumbered by the protesters. The situation escalated with protesters going on a rampage, setting coaches and several stalls on fire, blocking railway tracks with two-wheelers, wooden boxes, garbage cans, gunny bags and wheelbarrows of railway porters, and stealing goods kept in the parcel office. To quell the arson, the railway police opened fire. One of the agitators died on the spot while 16 suffered injuries and were admitted to Gandhi hospital.

Protesters also damaged offices on Platform Nos 1 and 10, ransacked computers and electronics, destroyed CCTV cameras, lights and fans on all 10 platforms.

Passengers heaved a sigh of relief when the authorities in the evening announced 'Operation All Clear' and restored train services amidst heavy police bandobust.