The loss of property caused to Indian Railways in Friday’s arson and rioting by Army aspirants, as a fallout of the Agnipath scheme, is to the tune of ₹12 crore, said Divisional Railway Manager-Secunderabad, Abhay Kumar Gupta on Saturday.
“This is apart from compensations — to be quantified and paid to food stall vendors, refunds for ticket bookings and losses due to delay in transporting goods,” he said, adding that most amenities at the station for passengers were restored.
Trains were operated from the junction from 6.30p.m. on Friday, soon after the police removed the young protesters from the station premises and took some of them into custody.
Train operations resumed smoothly as there was no damage to the tracks and the signalling system. Authorities had initially pegged the losses at ₹3 crore, and later at ₹7 crore.
On Saturday, Mr. Gupta, along with senior officials from Operations, toured the station, platform to platform, and noted spots that need attention. He also instructed the contractors concerned to clear the debris and restore services.
While platform no. 1 remained mostly unaffected, except for the passenger lifts and windows, the damage was extensive on platform nos. 2, 3, 4 and 5. CCTV units, televisions, switch boards and electrical fixtures, food stalls, water tap connections, granite and glass tops were destroyed. In all, four coaches were burnt, two locomotives damaged, and window glasses of all AC coaches and the accident relief vans broken.
Mr. Gupta said that restoration works were being taken up on an immediate basis. “But still, passenger amenities on platform no. 2, 3, 4 and 5 will be unavailable for the next two months, as they were completely damaged. Services will be opened in a phase-wise manner,” he said.
Although the senior official said he would not comment on ‘the police firing on Friday’, he opined that the action was “a spontaneous reaction and the need of the hour”. “Probably, the local police that was assisting us took the decision to open fire,” he said, not commenting further.
Mr. Gupta said normal traffic was restored at the station, and there was also no delay in train schedules on Saturday, except for two trains whose rakes were damaged. A detailed evaluation of the losses and additional compensations were being worked out, and a report would be submitted to the Ministry, he added.
