Farmers to hold rail roko protest for 4 hours on Sunday

Farmer unions, currently leading the protest at the PunjabHaryana border after the Centre blocked their march to Delhi with the help of the Haryana government, has announced a “rail roko” protest, scheduled for four hours from Sunday noon. To be held across the country, the protest is unlikely to have any impact on train services outside Punjab, official sources said.

Addressing media in Chandigarh on Saturday, leaders of Samyukt Kisan Morcha (nonpolitical) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) released a detailed plan of the protest in railway stations and the locations through which railway lines pass.

However, the major focus of the unions at the press conference was on Food Minister Piyush Goyal’s recent statement about the formula proposed by the Centre to the

Amarjeet Singh Mohri, farmer leader

protesting farmer leaders last month.

THE MSP ISSUE

They said that the government should not mislead the farmers. Giving minimum support price (MSP) on some crops is completely misleading, they said.

“This is the same proposal which was earlier rejected by the farmer leaders in the last meeting as it was contrary to the main demands of the movement,” farmer leaders said in a statement. The government wanted to give MSP only for five years on the line of contract farming, it said.

Farmer leader Amarjeet Singh Mohri said the local police did not allow farmers who reached Delhi from different States to protest at Jantar Mantar. He said they will fight against the Haryana government which they allege has been preventing them to march ahead.

Speaking on the rail roko, he said that women power will play an equal role in this campaign and trains will be stopped across the country.

The rail roko protest, though called by the SKM (nonpolitical) and KMM, has received support from five other farmer unions of Punjab, who are currently part of the other faction under the SKM banner. Apart from BKU (Ugrahan), a major union in Punjab, Krantikari Kisan Union, BKU (Malwa), BKU (Doaba) and BKU Dakaunda (Dhaner) have also decided to take part in protest on Sunday.