Farmers block rly tracks, stop trains
Farmers from Punjab, Haryana, Maha and UP, among others, up pressure to repeal agri laws
NEW DELHI: Farmers on Thursday sat on railway tracks at many places in Punjab and Haryana as part of the four-hour ‘Rail Roko’ protest against the Centre’s three farm laws, with officials saying trains were halted at stations as a precautionary measure.
Normal movement of trains on various rail routes was disrupted as farmers squatted on tracks, but the impact was either minimal or negligible, a spokesperson for the Indian Railways said.
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of farmer unions which is spearheading the protest, had last week announced the nationwide rail blockade to seek the repeal of the three farm laws.
The farmers sat on train tracks as part of the agitation from 12 noon to 4 pm.
Farmers at Kurukshetra in Haryana climbed on the locomotive of the Gita Jayanti Express train, which had been stopped at the station.
“The train was scheduled to leave from the Kurukshetra station after 3 pm,” a railway official in Kurukshetra said, adding the farmers did not allow the train engine to change its end for some time.
In Punjab, protesters sat on tracks at many places on the Delhi-Ludhiana-Amritsar railway route, officials said. They blocked the Jalandhar CanttJammu railway track in Jalandhar. Farmers also squatted on railway tracks at Mullanpur, Dakha and Jagraon on Ludhiana-Ferozepur rail route in Ludhiana, said officials.
Bathinda-Delhi rail track in Bathinda, Delhi-Amritsar track in Amritsar, Amritsar-Tarn Taran track were also blocked by protesters.
In Haryana, protesting farmers, including women, squatted on railway tracks at many places, including those in Ambala, Kurukshetra, Panipat, Panchkula, Rohtak, Sonipat, Hisar and Fatehabad districts, the officials said.
On the Ambala-Delhi railway section, a group of farmers led by Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader from Ambala Gulab Singh Mankpur, squatted on a track at Shahpur village, about two kilometres from the Ambala Cantt station. “Our protest will continue in a peaceful manner till the farm laws are repealed,” said Manakpur.
Security was beefed up in both Haryana and Punjab with the government railway police and state police personnel having been deployed at many places in the two states, officials said.
Ferozepur’s divisional railway manager Rajesh Aggarwal said
farmers staged agitations at around 50 places. He, however, added that neither any train was cancelled nor diverted because of farmers’ agitation.
The Ferozepur division of the Northern Railways halted some trains at stations so that passengers face less inconvenience during the ‘Rail Roko’ protest.
In Haryana, besides railway police personnel, the Haryana Police had deployed its staff in large numbers near protest sites and at various railway stations.
Divisional railway manager, Ambala division, GM Singh said no train had been cancelled due to the rail roko’ agitation. He, however, said mail and goods trains were stopped at Saharanpur (Uttar Pradesh), Ambala (Haryana) and Sirhind (Punjab).
In Jind, the railway tracks were blocked near Barsola village, where a large number of farmers, including women, squatted on them. In Yamunanagar railway station, farmers squatted on Yamunagar-Jagadhri rail track while in Bahadurgarh, farmers, including women, with many of them carrying tricolour in their hands, sat on tracks.
In Rajasthan, officials said the Rewari-Sri Ganganagar special train was the only train cancelled due to the agitation, while few others were delayed. In West Bengal, too, stray incidents were reported across the state with little or no effect on rail services.
Within an hour of the agitation being over, the Indian Railways said all its services were running normally across the country. Besides multiple railway stations across Punjab and Haryana, the ‘Rail Roko’ protest was also staged at different places in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka, among others.
“The government has constantly been saying that the protest against the three farm laws is being staged by the farmers of just two states, Punjab and Haryana, but the rail roko andolan shows that the government is wrong. Farmers from so many states have participated. That is why it was important for us to protest on the railway tracks. Like the railways that has a nationwide network, our protest is also happening across the country,” Krantikari Kisan Union’s Gurdaspur district president Bhajan Singh said.