Over 25 trains stay cancelled
Amritsar, September 29
On the second day of the ‘Rail Roko’ protest, the farmer unions, which are part of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political), continued to block the railway tracks at Devidaspura causing undue inconvenience to thousands of passengers.
Seeking a special package for the flood-affected people, 18 farmer organizations would meet at Kisan Bhawan in Chandigarh on October 23 and 24. Sarwan Singh Pandher, a leader of the Kisan Sangharsh Committee, announced that members of the 18 farmer organisations would celebrate “Kisani Dasehra” by burning effigies of corporate houses and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said farmers were sitting on the railway tracks at 20 places across the state leading to cancellation of a large number of trains.
Meanwhile, farmers continued to squat on the railway tracks at Devidaspur on the city outskirts, raising slogans against the government. Different farmer leaders addressed the protesters terming the Central Government’s policies anti-farmer.
Former cabinet minister Lakshmi Kanta Chawla questioned the government’s public transport arrangements as the farmers had announced to stop the railway tracks much in advance.
She asked the protesting farmers why they put the people of the state to inconvenience when their dispute was with the Central Government. She appealed to them to spare the people of the state inconvenience.
Meanwhile, over 25 trains remained cancelled on the second day of the protest with members of farmer unions blocking the Amritsar-Delhi railway tracks at Devidaspura village on the city outskirts here on Friday.
The Ferozepur Division of Northern Railway informed that 136 trains were cancelled, with over 25 of them from the Amritsar railway station, 73 trains were short-terminated, 31 short originated and 50 were diverted due to the farmers’ protest.
