Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh remained trouble-free even as the agitation related to Agnipath recruitment scheme rocked other states like TS on Friday.
The Armed Forces as also the railway authorities announced a high alert and deployed security personnel in all major railway stations in the state as a preventive step.
As reports of violence at Secunderabad railway station spread in the morning, personnel from the RPF and the civilian police took up positions at railway stations like Vijayawada, Rajahmundry, Eluru, Ongole, Gudur, Anakapalli, Visakhapatnam etc, both inside and outside the railway stations, till evening.
The difficulty was for passengers, many of them having been stranded at railway stations due to the disruption in train services caused by the protests at the Secunderabad railway station.
Vijayawada RPF division’s senior security commissioner Valleswara Thokala said, “We have announced high alert at all major railway stations and deployed a large number of security personnel as a preventive step. We will continue to keep vigil for two more days. So far, we have not received any report of violence related to Agnipath from this division.”
The South Central Railway announced cancellation of 28 trains, partial cancellation of 19 trains, diversion of eight trains, change of terminal to two trains and restored three train services including the Secunderabad-Tirupati, Secunderabad-Bidar and Bidar-Hyderabad.
The Visakhapatnam based Waltair railway division announced that the services of nearly half-a-dozen trains which pass through Vizag were temporarily regulated.
DRM Anup Satpathy said, “We are in touch with governments of AP, Odisha and Chattisgarh to keep a close tab on the security situation.” Meanwhile, security at all railway stations in Tirupati, Chittoor and Nellore districts was beefed up. Personnel from RPF, GRP were deployed at important railway stations.
Several students’ unions staged protests against the Agnipath scheme outside Tirupati railway station and the police personnel pacified them and disallowed their entry into the railway station.
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