Administration on alert in West Bengal as 'Agnipath' protests rage on

With neighbouring Bihar and a few pockets in Bengal witnessing protests over the Centre's newly introduced 'Agnipath' scheme for recruitment in defence services, the state government on Friday asked all district administrations to take precautionary measures to ensure that law and order situation is not disturbed anywhere, a senior official said. All police stations in the city and the districts have been alerted to keep tight vigil on areas under their jurisdiction to avoid any untoward incident, he said.

"We do not want any violence in the wake of the agitation against the Agnipath scheme here in West Bengal. An alert has been issued in the city and all other districts," the official told PTI.

Preventive steps have already been taken in the districts, West Bengal ADG (Law and Order) Javed Shamim said, when contacted.


Bengal on Friday saw disruption of train services on the Sealdah-Bangaon route in North 24 Parganas district as a group of students held a demonstration on railway tracks in protest against the scheme.

The Centre on Tuesday unveiled 'Agnipath for the recruitment of soldiers in the Army, Navy and the Air Force, largely on a four-year short-term contractual basis, in a major overhaul of the decades-old selection process to bring in fitter and younger troops to deal with future security challenges.