Rail roko protest deferred for now, trains to start temporarily

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, December 28

Following a meeting with Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and assurances given by him over their demands, the members of Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee today announced to postpone their protest and lifted their dharna on the ninth day from Jalandhar Cantonment railway station.

This evening, the farmers packed up their tents and removed all mattresses from the tracks where they had been lodged since December 20. The union leaders announced that they would hold a state-level meeting on December 31 and their next meeting with the CM had been fixed for January 4, after which they would decide the next course of action.

With their lifting of dharna, the movement of trains to and fro Jammu, Pathankot and other areas would now get temporarily started. As many as 16 trains towards Jammu had been cancelled for the past nine days ever since nearly 400 farmers led by district president of Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee Salwinder Singh Jania and Kapurthala president Sarwan Singh Baupur had started squatting on the tracks.

Even though the farmers had been demanding compensation of damaged crops, compensation and job for the kin of 700 farmers who died during agitation in now-repealed farm laws, more solatium for the acquisition of land for Delhi-Katra Expressway, removal of scarcity of fertilizers etc, the CM is learnt to have primarily accepted their first demand only of extending relief of Rs 17,000 per acre to Basmati growers, whose crops got damaged due to hailstorm. The union members said the CM told their leaders that the fertilizer supply had hampered due to rail roko and once the train movement would resume, the problem would get resolved.

Since the farmers had also demanded that the cases registered against them in Delhi by the RPF during agitation be also got cancelled, they said the CM promised to take up the matter with Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

As many as 800 farmers were learnt to have been sitting between Jalandhar City railway station-Amritsar section, Sahnewal and Jalandhar City section, Jalandhar Cantt and Pathankot Cantt at Tanda affecting almost a complete movement of trains from Jalandhar. Harpreet Singh, press secretary of the union, said, “All dharnas across the state have been temporarily lifted on the CM’s assurance today. The CM took us a week’s time to fulfill our demands. We will wait for them to get implemented before our January 4 meeting and accordingly take our decision on whether to resume or permanently end our protest.”

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