PATIALA: As the farmer’s protest enters its third day on Thursday, it has become a full-fledged crisis ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. Protesting farmers from Rajpura in Punjab’s Patiala are halting trains and sitting on rails at Rajpura Railway Station. Meanwhile, an official stated that rail movement on the Northern Railway’s Ambala division has been impacted by the ongoing farmers’ protest. The North Western Railway’s Chief Public Relations Officer, Captain Shashi Kiran, stated that the farmers’ protest will affect the following rail services: Cancelled Rail Services (from the starting station): On February 15, the Bathinda-Shri Ganganagar train, number 04753, would be cancelled.On February 15, the Shri Ganganagar-Bathinda service train, number 04756, is scheduled to be cancelled.Rail services (from the starting station) partially cancelled: Train 14736, Ambala-Shri Ganganagar, scheduled to leave Ambala on February 15, would not run beyond Bathinda; that is, it will be cancelled between Bathinda and Shri Ganganagar. Train 14735, the Shri Ganganagar-Ambala service, is scheduled to depart from Bathinda on February 15. Consequently, it is cancelled between Bathinda and Shri Ganganagar. Route Altered Rail Service: On February 15, 2024, the Amritsar-Ajmer Express train number 19612 will run on a modified route that passes through Tarn Taran Jn.-Beas. On Thursday, the Punjabi farmers’ ‘Delhi Chalo’ protest against the federal government began its third day. The central government and farmer unions will meet on Thursday at 5 p.m. to talk about these issues. The farmers are marching to Delhi in support of 12 requests they have made of the federal government. This time, the Punjab Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, headed by farmer union leaders Jagjeet Singh Dallewal and Sarwan Singh Pandher, and the non-political Sanyukt Kisan Morcha have called for the demonstration. The farmers who were protesting said that they terminated the 2021 protest because the Centre had guaranteed them higher crop prices. In accordance with the Swaminathan Commission findings, they are calling for the passage of legislation that would ensure a minimum support price (MSP) for all crops. In addition, they want a plan to give farmers and farm labourers pensions, as well as a total remission of all debt.
