Rail minister calls for calm after violent protest against exam

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw urged the protesting students to remain calm. In a statment issued  on Wednesday, he asked job aspirants to not engage in the destruction of public property as the authorities will take due action on the basis of such acts which the government categorises as “unlawful” and are representative of the “highest levels of indiscipline”. We will solve your problems. The results of the exams will be transparent and fair," Ashwini Vaishnaw said. Vaishnaw said that the ministry has formed a committee that will examine the grievances of those who have passed the exams under different railway recruitment boards and those who have failed.After listening to both the parties, the committee will submit a report to the railway ministry by March 4, he said. The Union minister's statement comes in the wake of railway job candidates going on a rampage in Bihar, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh over alleged irregularities in examinations of the Railway Recruitment Board (RRB). 

Earlier, a group of protesters in Bihar’s Gaya district set a bogie of the Bhabua-Patna Intercity Express on fire earlier in the day, police said. This was followed by police opening tear gas to disperse the mob. Protests were reported from Gaya,Jehanabad,  Patna, Nawada, Muzaffarpur, Sitamarhi, Buxar and Bhojpur districts. Several trains were canceled or ran on alternative routes on Tuesday on account of the protests. As per reports police fired in the air to disperse angry demonstrators at Sitamarhi railway station.  The agitation has affected several sections of the East Central Railway (ECR) zone and has hit more than 25 trains, causing inconvenience to passengers. The canceled trains include the Durg-Rajendra Nagar South Bihar Express, the Gaya-Jamalpur passenger, Gaya-Howrah Express and Patna-Varanasi Express trains. Several other trains had to be diverted.

The central government said such protests on tracks and disruption of train operations will now be categorised under “unlawful activities” that may get one banned for life from obtaining railway jobs. According to an official release issued by the ministry of railways, videos of such activities will be analysed by “specialised agencies” and can result in police action as well.The railways ministry said that such activities include protesting on railway tracks, disruption of train operations, damaging railway properties, and the like.