Railway property worth Rs 80 crore was damaged during anti-CAA protests across the country and the recovery will be made from those found involved in the protests, Railway Board Chairman Vinod Kumar Yadav said on Monday.
“There has been damage to railway property worth Rs 80 crore during anti-CAA protests. Of this, the Eastern Railway suffered damage worth Rs 70 crore and the damage suffered by the Northeast Frontier Railway was worth Rs 10 crore. The damage will be recovered from those found involved in arson and violence. This, however, is a preliminary estimate and the figure could go up after the final analysis,” Yadav said.
Amid the anti-CAA protests, railway services were badly affected in West Bengal after protestors set fire on railway tracks and blocked them. People also ransacked some stations.
In some areas, signalling units, ticket counters, and panels were also damaged during the violence.
Earlier, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal had demanded strict action from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee against those who damaged railway property. “Law and order is a state subject and they are working on it. Recoveries will be made,” Yadav said, refusing to reveal the modalities.
The Union Minister of states for Railways had earlier stated that those involved in causing damage to the railway properties should be shot at sight.
He said, “If anyone is destroying railway property, then I ask the chief minister of the particular state to initiate stringent action just as Sardar Vallabhai Patel had taken to merge Hyderabad with India.”
When asked what he meant by stringent action, Angadi said, “Stringent action means to shoot at sight.”
#WATCH Union Min of State of Railways, Suresh Angadi speaks on damage to properties. Says "…I strictly warn concerned dist admn&railway authorities, if anybody destroys public property, including railway, I direct as a Minister, shoot them at sight…" #CitizenshipAmendmentAct pic.twitter.com/VeUpZY7AjX
— ANI (@ANI) December 17, 2019
Also Read: Indian Railways Reported Zero Deaths This Fiscal For First Time In 166 Years
