Angry farmers clog tracks, train services hit

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, April 27

Scores of farmers under the banner of the Kisan Sangarsh Committee (Satnam Singh Pannu group) blocked rail tracks near Jandiala, throwing train traffic out of gear. They were protesting slow pace of wheat procurement in grain markets.

Consequently, trains such as the Amritsar-Chandigarh Intercity Express and Amritsar-Nanded weekly train were cancelled and the Amritsar-New Delhi Shatabdi Express, Jammu Tawi-Muri Express, Chhattisgarh Express and the Shan-e-Punjab was delayed by several hours.

The farmers managed to give the police a slip to reach the rail tracks even as the latter had put up nakas to foil their bid to block rail traffic. The rail blockade that started around 12.30 pm continued till the filing of this report.

While there were long queues of passengers outside the inquiry counters at the Amritsar railway station, almost all the platforms were packed to capacity as the rail blockade left thousands of passengers stranded. Three rounds of talks between the administration officials and the protesters yielded no result. Tarn Taran Deputy Commissioner BS Dhaliwal said the protesters were demanding that even damaged wheat was also purchased, which was not acceptable. Amritsar Deputy Commissioner Ravi Bhagat said they had made efforts to pacify the agitating farmers, but the latter were adamant on their demands.

On the other hand, Satnam Singh Pannu said if the government did not respond to their "just demands" they would continue their dharna and would take a call on it tomorrow.

The farmers also blocked the Amritsar-Jalandhar highway outside the grain market in Rayya during the day, forcing the commuters to divert their vehicles to link roads to reach their destinations. The road blockade was lifted on the assurance that wheat procurement would start at 10 am tomorrow.

Addressing the protesters, farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher alleged the state government was taking the farmers for a ride by claiming that wheat procurement had started. "Procuring a few heaps of wheat doesn't mean anything. The government agencies are befooling the farmers," he said,.

Tarn Taran:Admn officials face raw deal

A team of officials led by Jalandhar Divisional Commissioner R. Venkatratnam had to face the ire of farmers, labourers and commission agents at Tarn Taran grain market, forcing them to leave in a single vehicle. Their other vehicles were not allowed to move by the protesters who damaged one of the vehicles.

Jamhuri Kisan Sabha leader Rattan Singh Randhawa claimed 15 of the 17 farmers organisations had pulled out of the "rail roko" agitation and instead decided to stage protests at the grain markets. He said: "Farmer leaders from Malwa and Doaba felt that procurement was going on normally in their regions. Our leaders from Majha said disrupting rail traffic would lead to harassment of thousands of people visiting the holy city."

Barnala: 2 passenger trains affected

Farmers under the banner of the BKU (Ugrahan) today began a 28-hour-long "rail roko" agitation here. They started the dharna on the Bathinda-Dhuri rail track, near Kachehri Chowk here, at 12 noon. The dharna will continue till 4 pm tomorrow. Rail traffic on the Bathinda-Dhuri track was hit adversely as 20 trains, nine passenger and 11 express, will not be able to ply on the track till 4 pm tomorrow.

Tarun Kumar Srivastava, Station Superintendent, Barnala, confirmed that two passenger trains (Sriganganagar-Ambala and Ambala-Bathinda) could not ply on the track today.

Phagwara:Train passengers stranded

Rail traffic on the Phagwara-Jalandhar and Phagwara-Ludhiana rail sections remained disrupted for more than three hours. Though farmers did not block rail traffic at Phagwara, the UP Dadar-Amritsar Express Train remained stranded at the local railway station for more than three hours due to a blockade near Jandiala Guru.

Trains affected

Amritsar-Chandigarh Intercity Express

Amritsar-Nanded weekly train 

Sriganganagar-Ambala

Ambala-Bathinda

Amritsar-New Delhi Shatabdi Express

Jammu Tawi-Muri Express

Chhattisgarh Express

Shan-e-Punjab

UP Dadar-Amritsar Express

Down Line Mail Express