'Rail roko' protest: Train services hit as farmers squat on rail tracks in Punjab and Haryana

Chandigarh, March 10

Train traffic was affected in Punjab and Haryana on Sunday after agitating farmers squatted on tracks at many places in the state as part of a nationwide ‘rail roko’ protest.

Samyukt Kisan Morcha (non-political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha had given a call that trains would be halted at 60 places across Punjab and Haryana during their four-hour ‘Rail roko’ from noon to 4 pm.

At Ludhiana railway station, harassed passengers were left with no other option and were seen leaving the railway station and opting for other modes of transport as trains were halted.

Farmers also protested at the Patiala railway station.

In Punjab, farmers sat on railway tracks at many locations in 22 districts, including Amritsar, Ludhiana, Tarn Taran, Hoshiarpur, Firozpur, Fazilka, Sangrur, Mansa, Moga and Bathinda. Because of the disruption of train services, passengers experienced inconvenience.

According to railway authorities, nine trains including Ferozepur to Bathinda, Jalandhar City to Hoshiarpur, and Jalandhar City to Pathankot were cancelled and many trains were either short-terminated or short-originated.

Farmer leaders Sarwan Singh Pandher and Jagjit Singh Dallewal claimed that their ‘rail roko’ agitation was successful.

“Till a concrete resolution is offered by the government to our demands, we will continue our struggle,” Pandher said.

They claimed that the ‘rail roko’ protest was held at 75 locations in Punjab, five in Haryana, three each in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and 20 locations in Tamil Nadu.

During the protest, farmers raised slogans against the Centre for not accepting their demands.

Besides a legal guarantee of MSP, the farmers are demanding the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations, pension for farmers and farm labourers and no hike in electricity tariff.

They are demanding the withdrawal of police cases and “justice” for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence, reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013 and compensation to the families of farmers who died during a previous agitation in 2020-21.

The protesting farmers from Punjab have been camping at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points since February 13, when security forces stopped them from marching towards Delhi.

The farmer leaders have rejected the Centre’s proposal for procurement of pulses, maize and cotton at the MSP by government agencies for five years, saying it was not in farmers’ favour. —with PTI inputs