CAA protests: Railways suffered Rs 80 cr damage in Bengal

The railways suffered a loss of over Rs 80 crore during the ongoing anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests in West Bengal, Railway Board Chairman V.K. Yadav said on Monday.

Speaking to reporters here, Yadav said: "The railways suffered a loss to the tune of Rs 80 crore in form of arson and violence on railway premises in West Bengal."

He said that the railways will recover the cost of the losses at their premises from those involved in the arson.

He also said that the amount could go up as the exact figure is yet to come from the zonal railways.

He was responding to a question on railway properties damaged in West Bengal over the controversial anti-CAA and the anti-National Register of Citizens (NRC) protests.

Earlier this month, angry protestors had damaged several railway properties in different parts of West Bengal. They torched the station master's cabin and ransacked the ticket counter before setting it on fire in Beldanga in the state's Murshidabad district.

In Howrah district, protesters barged into Uluberia station under the South Eastern Railway and vandalised its premises, as well as a couple of trains. A driver and a railway personnel were also among the injured in the stone throwing at the protests.IANS