New Delhi: Ever since the central government came out with the new Aginipath Scheme for military recruitment, the opposition created such an atmosphere that there have been violent protests against it across the country. The maximum opposition to this scheme was seen in Bihar. Many trains were burned down. Properties worth lakhs and crores were burnt to ashes. Meanwhile, on Friday (July 22, 2022), Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw informed in a written reply in Parliament that the railways had suffered a huge loss of Rs 259.44 crore during the Agnipath protests.

According to Vaishnav, the loss of Rs 102.96 crore has been incurred due to the stoppage of railway operations from June 14 to 22 alone. However, during the protest against the Agnipath scheme itself, public properties worth Rs 260 crore were burnt down. At the same time, if we talk about the last three years i.e. from the year 2019 till now, then the railways have suffered a huge loss of 1376 crores. Of this, the loss has been Rs 151 crore in 2019-20 and Rs 904 crore in 2020-21 (farmers' movement) and Rs 62 crore in 2021-22.

Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has informed the House that a total of 2132 trains had to be cancelled across the country during the Agnipath protests, that too within a week. Two people were killed and 35 others injured in the violent protests. While 2,642 miscreants were arrested. Replying to M Arif's question in the House, Ashwini Vaishnav said that it is the passenger trains that cause the most damage to the Railways. Goods trains had kept the railways safe. He made it clear that the Railways collect only half of the total travel cost from the passengers. The Union Minister also informed that due to the Corona epidemic, the earnings of the Railways for the last two years have been less than that of 2019-20.

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