Rail, road traffic hit as farmers stage protests in Punjab, Haryana
CHANDIGARH: Farmers on Sunday squatted on railway tracks and blocked roads at several places in Punjab and Haryana as part of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha's nationwide protest against the Centre “reneging on its promises” made when the agitation against now-repealed farm laws was withdrawn last year.
In Punjab, the Ferozepur division of Indian Railways had to cancel or reschedule several trains because of the four-hour agitation. As a result, scores of passengers were forced to wait at various railway stations for hours. According to railway officials, Amritsar-Pathankot, Amritsar-Qadian, PathankotVerka were among five trains which were cancelled while eight trains, including Amritsar-Jaynagar, Amritsar-Sealdah, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra-New Delhi, Amritsar-New Delhi and Amritsar-Ajmer
Express were rescheduled.
Two trains — BathindaFazilka and Fazilka-Bathinda — were short terminated, they said. I, along with my wife, came here for treatment. We had to return to Jammu today. Our train, which was scheduled to arrive at 10:30 am, got delayed for several hours, said a Jammu-based man at Jalandhar railway station.
A woman from Jandiala was to go to Jammu to pay obeisance at the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine but her train also got delayed due to the farmers' agitation. We have been waiting for the train for hours, said the woman. Many trains were stopped and roads were blocked at several places from 11 am till 3 pm.
Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU)-Kadian president Harmeet Singh Kadian, participating in the protest at Phillaur railway station, said the farmers were holding the protest on the call given by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of farmers' unions.
Farmers alleged that they were forced to squat on rail tracks as the Centre was “not listening to their demands”.
BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan said their members staged dharnas at eight toll plazas in six districts and 10 highways, including Ludhiana-Ferozepur highway at Mullanpur and squatted at rail tracks at Bathinda, Budhlada,
Malerkotla and Patti.
In neighbouring Haryana, farmers held protests at many places, including Hisar, Jhajjar, Bahadurgarh, Tohana, Sonipat and Karnal. They also burnt effigies of the Central government and raised slogans, accusing the BJP-led dispensation of “going back on its promises .
In Hisar, protesting farmers held demonstrations at five toll plazas and burnt effigies of the central government. The farmers, who were protesting at Badopatti toll, said that they had a minor scuffle with police as they were preparing to burn the Centre's effigy.
Farmers squatted on railway tracks and blocked roads in Punjab and Haryana as part of SKM’s nationwide protest against Centre “reneging on its promises” made when the agitation against now-repealed farm laws was withdrawn last year