Rail traffic hit on second day of farmers’ stir in Punjab; Chandigarh-Ambala NH blocked near Lalru

Farmers in large numbers protested on rail tracks in Punjab on Friday, while another group of cultivators blocked the Chandigarh-Ambala national highway as part of their agitation to demand a financial package for losses incurred in the recent floods, a legal guarantee to MSP and a sweeping debt waiver. As part of the three-day rail roko (blockade), the farmers squatted on the Amritsar-Delhi track in Devidaspura, while in Hoshiarpur, members of the Azad Kisan Committee Doaba, sat on dharna at the local railway station.

According to railway officials, some trains were cancelled, while routes of others were diverted. Some trains were being short terminated in view of the agitation. The stir is underway at 17 places in Punjab, including Moga, Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur, Jalandhar, Tarn Taran, Sangrur, Patiala, Ferozepur, Bathinda, and Amritsar.

A group of farmers owing allegiance to Bharti Kisan Union (Sidhupur) squatted on the Chandigarh-Ambala national highway near Lalru in Punjab. Farmers parked their tractors alongside the highway. A Punjab Police official said both sides of the highway have been blocked and traffic has been diverted through an alternate route.

Azad Kisan Committee, Doaba, state president Harpal Singh Sangha said the agitation will continue till September 30. If the demands are not met by that time, the next course of action will be decided, he said.

The stir has left rail passengers stranded in Punjab and Haryana.

“The matter is between the Centre and the farmers. Why should passengers face harassment? Since yesterday, we have been waiting at the railway station, but there is no surety when our train will come,” said an elderly passenger at the Ludhiana station who was travelling to Patna.

Farmers announced on Saturday that they will occupy two additional train tracks in Punjab one in Samrala and other in Malout, and third one in Ambala, Haryana. This will bring the total number of protest points to 21.

While addressing a press conference at Kisan Bhawan on Friday, farmer leaders announced to burn effigy of corporates on Dussehra. On Thursday night, hundreds of railway passengers travelling to various destinations, including Delhi, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, were stranded at the Ambala Cantonment station in Haryana as rail movement was hit in neighbouring Punjab due to the protest.

Several farmer groups, including the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, Bharti Kisan Union (Krantikari), BKU (Ekta Azaad), Azad Kisan Committee Doaba, BKU (Behramke), BKU (Shaheed Bhagat Singh), and BKU (Chottu Ram), are participating in the protest.

Their demands include a financial package for the flood-affected people in north India, a legal guarantee for minimum support price on all crops, and a debt waiver for farmers.

Farmers want a ₹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.

He demanded waiver of the entire debt of farmers and labourers, and ₹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.