Farmers hold ‘rail roko’ agitation, nine passenger trains affected
PROTEST Demand payment of outstanding sugarcane dues, financial help to manage paddy straw
CHANDIGARH: Nine passenger trains were affected in Punjab on Thursday due to a rail roko agitation by farmers in support of their demands, including payment of outstanding sugarcane dues and financial assistance to manage paddy straw.
The routes that were impacted include Ferozepur-Jalandhar, Ferozepur-Fazilka and Ferozepur-Amritsar.
The protesters, who gathered under the banner of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Samiti, squatted on the railway tracks in Gurdaspur, Jalandhar and Tarn Taran districts. The agitation started at 1pm and went on till 4pm.
The one-day agitation led to the cancellation of five passenger trains — Bhagtanwala-Khemkaran-Bhagtanwala, AmritsarQadian-Amritsar, Ferozepur-Jalandhar City, Jalandhar CityAmritsar and AmritsarJalandhar city, a railway official said. Besides, two trains — Pathankot-Verka-Pathankot and Fazilka-Ferozepur-Fazilka were short terminated, the official said.
A Jammu Tawi-Ahmedabad train was diverted via Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Moga and Ferozepur.
Satnam Singh Pannu, the president of the farmers’ organisation, said they had protested against the “apathetic” attitude of the government.
“An outstanding payment of ₹600 crore towards Punjab cane growers has not been cleared. We have not been given our money for the last one year. We are being forced to borrow money for meeting household expenses. Some farmers are even committing suicides,” said Pannu.
Farmers also demanded ₹200 per quintal as bonus on paddy for management of crop residue.
“Farmers are being harassed. The government is imposing a fine and registering cases gainst them for stubble burning,” he said. They also demanded relaxation in the norms for paddy procurement.
Meanwhile, at Nurpur Bedi in Rupnagar, farmers staged a dharna at the Jhajj Chowk on the Nurpur Bedi-Garhshankar road and blocked traffic to protest against the non-lifting of paddy from the grain markets of Nurpur Bedi. Rupnagar MLA Amarjit Singh Sandoa also participated in the dharna.
AMRITSAR-KHEMKARAN TRAFFIC HIT
TARNTARAN: Farmers started gathering at Patti railway station and blocked trains fromn 1pm to 5pm. Kisan Sangharsh Committee’s Patti zone president Mehar Singh Talwandi led the protest demanding that cases registered against farmers for stubble burning must be taken back.
IN BATALA, SERVICES WENT OFF AT 11AM
BATALA: Over 1,000 protesters gathered at the Bypass Chowk in the town from where they took out a march towards the railway track.
Here too, the blockade started at around 1pm and continued till the filing of report as the district administration’s efforts to pacify the protesters went in vain.
Officials said that the blockade led to the cancellation of more than six passenger trains on the route.
Assistant sub-inspector, GRP (Goods Railway Police), Parmodh Kumar said since 11am, no train could arrive or depart from the Batala railway station.
“Adequate police force has been deployed to avoid any untoward incident,” he added.