Don’t destroy ‘own property’, will resolve grievances, assures Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.
A train was set on fire and demonstrations were staged at a couple of stations on Wednesday, marking the third day of unrest in Bihar against alleged anomalies in the tests conducted by the Railway Recruitment Board for the NTPC category.A crowd stormed the Gaya Junction, raising slogans, and set fire to the Bhabhua-Patna Inter City Express, though nobody was injured.East Central Railway CPRO Rajesh Kumar told PTI-Bhasha, “The rakes were empty and parked inside the yard when miscreants set a coach on fire. It has not resulted in disruption of rail traffic.” Gaya SSP Aditya Kumar said some of the agitators were taken into custody.”We have brought the situation at Gaya Junction under control. Some protesters have been taken into custody. Action will be taken after the arsonists are identified,” Mr. Kumar said.The ECR CPRO said demonstrations were also witnessed at Taregana, on the outskirts of Patna, and at Jehanabad though agitators there were pacified without much trouble.”The Railways is requesting people to stay calm and place their grievances before the high-powered committee that has been set up to look into their concerns,” he added.Officials said that in Sitamarhi, police fired in the air to disperse demonstrators at the railway station. Protests were also reported from Patna, Nawada, Muzaffarpur, Buxar and Bhojpur districts.Several trains were cancelled or ran on alternative routes on Tuesday on account of the protests.Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw urged job aspirants not to destroy public property and assured them that their grievances would be resolved as candidates went on a rampage over alleged irregularities in a recruitment exam by the public transporter.Earlier in the day, the Ministry suspended the Non-Technical Popular Categories (RRB NTPC) and the Level 2 exams after reports of vandalism by job aspirants from different parts of the country came to light.”I am telling the aspirants that this is their own property. Why are they destroying something that is their own? However, authorities will follow due process if public property is damaged,” the Minister said at a press conference.Mr. Vaishnaw said the Railways is in touch with chief ministers and the issue is being handled “sensitively”.”I urge the candidates to put forth their grievances formally. Our intention is to resolve this issue quickly. A committee has been formed and it will examine representations by the candidates,” he said.”I request students not to take the law into their hands. We will seriously address the grievances and concerns raised by them,” Mr. Vaishnaw said.He said all Railway Recruitment Board chairmen have been asked to listen to the concerns of candidates, compile them and send them to the committee.”An email address has been set up for this purpose. The committee will go to different parts of the country and listen to the grievances,” the Minister said. Candidates are opposing the Railways’ decision to hold the exam in two stages, claiming the second stage for final selection tantamount to “cheating” those who appeared and cleared the first stage of the RRB-NTPC for computer-based test (CBT) which was released on January 15.Around 1.25 crore candidates had applied for the exams that had advertised over 35,000 posts from level 2 to level 6.Protestors squatted on rail tracks at several places on Tuesday, hampering train movement in the State. Several trains were cancelled or ran on alternative routes on account of the protests.