Trains Cancelled, National Highway Blocked, Pilgrims Stranded Due to Farmers’ Protests in Punjab | 10 Points – News18

A ‘rail roko’ protest by farmers’ bodies in Punjab left a large number of passengers, many of them pilgrims, stranded at Jammu and Katra railway stations on Friday, as the agitation entered the second day. A number of trains were cancelled and 13 diverted while farmers also squatted on the Chandigarh-Ambala-Delhi national highway, blocking the route for seven hours.

Farmers in different parts of the state are on a three-day protest, pressing for a financial aid package for losses incurred due to the recent floods, legal guarantee to minimum support price (MSP) and debt waiver.

Here are all the latest developments:

1. A number of trains were cancelled, short-terminated or diverted due to the agitation. Railways said 60 to 70 percent of trains were running through diverted routes. The agitation has directly hit Ambala and Firozpur railway divisions, said officials.
2. Farmers squatted on tracks in many places, including Moga, Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur, Jalandhar, Tarn Taran, Sangrur, Patiala, Ferozepur, Bathinda and Amritsar. “Due to this agitation, some trains have been affected but 60 to 70 percent of trains are being run through diverted routes. Officials have been put on duty round the clock to monitor train traffic and ensure minimum inconvenience to passengers,” senior railway official Prateek Shrivastav told PTI.
3. Railway officials said a major affected area is Jalandhar, while two special trains to Katra have been cancelled along with the Shiv Shakti train. At least 15,000 people arrive at the Katra railway station every day and 70 percent are pilgrims. So, a majority of the trains have been diverted to ferry them. The number of stranded passengers at Jammu and Katra railway stations are increasing due to the cancellations and diversions.
4. Pilgrims on these routes are mostly bound towards the Vaishno Devi shrine. Passengers from states like Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh complained of exorbitant hotel tariffs while many said taxi operators were fleecing them by demanding Rs 35,000 for a trip to Delhi. The railways has opened a helpdesk at stations.
5. A group of farmers owing allegiance to the Bharti Kisan Union (Sidhupur) squatted on the Chandigarh-Ambala-Delhi national highway near Lalru with many farmers parking their tractors along the highway. They only lifted this blockade after seven hours following an assurance by the district administration. Police said both sides of the highway were blocked during the day and traffic diverted through alternative routes.
6. Farmer leaders said after a meeting, it has been decided that farmers in Haryana will also lend support and join the protest by squatting on railway tracks in Ambala on the third day. Harpal Singh Sangha, state chief of the Azad Kisan Committee, Doaba, said the agitation will continue till Saturday (September 30). If the demands are not met by then, the next course of action will be decided, he said.
7. On the first day of the agitation, hundreds of passengers travelling to different destinations, including Delhi, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, were stranded at the Ambala Cantonment station in Haryana as rail movement was hit in Punjab.
8. Several farmer groups, including the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee; Bharti Kisan Union (Krantikari); Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Azaad); Azaad Kisan Committee, Doaba; Bharti Kisan Union (Behramke); Bharti Kisan Union (Shaheed Bhagat Singh) and the Bharti Kisan Union (Chottu Ram), are participating in the protest.
9. Farmers are demanding compensation for crops damaged in the recent floods, a legal guarantee on MSP and a sweeping debt waiver. They are taking part in a three-day agitation in different parts of Punjab to press for their demands. While some have been squatting on tracks, others are sitting on a dharna at local railway stations.
10. Farmers want a Rs 50,000-crore flood relief package for north Indian states and MSP according to the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission report, farmer leader Gurbachan Singh said in Amritsar on Thursday (September 28). He demanded waiver of the entire debt of farmers and labourers, and Rs 10 lakh and a government job in compensation to the kin of each farmer who died during the agitation against the now-repealed three farm laws.

(With PTI inputs)