Punjab: Train Services Grind To A Halt As Farmers Launch Three-Day 'Rail Roko' Protest

Chandigarh: Train services were severely disrupted across Punjab as various farmers' groups initiated their three-day "rail roko" (rail blockade) protest at 12 locations in the state starting from Thursday noon.

Main among the farmers' demands are financial relief for the losses caused by recent floods, a legal guarantee for the minimum support price (MSP) for various crops, and debt waiver.

According to information the movement of dozens of trains was hit as groups of farmers squatted on the rail tracks leading to diversions of several and cancellations of the other trains. Most of them were in the Ferozepur division, where many trains were either cancelled, short-terminated or short-diverted.

Demand for action against Union Minister Ajay Mishra Teni’s son Ashish

The farmer leaders held that the government should have addressed farmers’ demands immediately when the call for the said stir was given a month ago. Some of the farmer leaders also sought action against Union minister Ajay Mishra Teni’s son Ashish, the main accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident of 2021.

The farmer leaders held that the stir was backed by as many as 18 farmers' unions of northern India, and more would join in case their demands were not met.

Meanwhile, police said that adequate police bandobust had been made to handle the situation. Pertinently, the farmers have begun their train blockade stir at as many as 12 places in the state, including Patiala, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Moga, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran, Sangrur, Ferozepur, Bathinda and Amritsar.