Indian trains set ablaze in protests against military hiring changes

One person was killed, while eight others were critically injured after the police opened fire to control an angry mob that went berserk at the Secunderabad railway station on Friday in protest against the Union defence ministry's new 'Agnipath' scheme.

The injured were shifted to Gandhi Hospital in Secunderabad. Hundreds of candidates aspiring for army recruitment tests vandalised the main railway station in the Telangana city.

"The general railway police (GRP) forces were forced to open fire at the angry mob after lathi-charge and tear gas shells failed to bring the protests under control," a senior police official said.

GRP forces allegedly opened around 15 rounds of fire to control the mob. Two police constables too were injured in the stone pelting. Railways DG Sandeep Shandilya and other senior officials reached the spot and are monitoring the situation.

The protesters also indulged in stone pelting and set afire a couple of bogies of a train, besides damaging other properties of the railways.

The mob even vandalised state road transport corporation buses outside the railway station, forcing south-central railway authorities to immediately stop all trains entering the station.

According to the police, hundreds of agitators stormed the railway station and damaged stalls and offices with sticks and stones on platform numbers 1 and 2. They pelted stones at stationed trains, forcing passengers to run for safety. Some passengers were also injured in the incident.

Later, the protestors set fire to a couple of bogies of the Kolkata-bound East Coast Express that was leaving the station. They also partially set fire to some bogies of th Ajanta Express and the multi-modal transport system (MMTS) trains.

The agitators even dumped railway cargo on the tracks and set them afire. The tracks were completely damaged in the process. Five fire tenders took more than two hours to douse the fire at the station and its premises.