CHANDIGARH: On Saturday, the ‘rail roko’ uprising of Punjabi farmers demanding MSP legal protection, a broad debt relief, and compensation for crops destroyed in the recent floods began its third day. Many trains have been cancelled, short-terminated, or diverted as a result of the unrest, according to railway officials. As part of their three-day agitation, the farmers have been blocking railway tracks at various locations in Faridkot, Samrala, Moga, Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur, Jalandhar, Tarn Taran, Sangrur, Patiala, Ferozepur, Bathinda, and Amritsar since Thursday. In Punjab and Haryana, the protest has halted hundreds of rail travellers.A train passenger at the Ludhiana station claimed that he had travelled by road from Jalandhar City in order to board a train to Gorakhpur, but the arrival time of the train was unknown. Another passenger at the station claimed that the Amritsar-bound train that was scheduled to carry 12 members of his family to Bihar had to be cancelled due to the unrest. Later, they discovered that the family had journeyed by road from Amritsar and that the train would leave from Ludhiana. He continued, “However, there has still been no update on the train.”According to officials, the Ambala and Ferozepur railway divisions have suffered specifically as a result of the farmers’ unrest. The Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, Bharti Kisan Union (Krantikari), Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Azaad), Azaad Kisan Committee, Doaba, Bharti Kisan Union (Behramke), Bharti Kisan Union (Shaheed Bhagat Singh), and Bharti Kisan Union (Chottu Ram) are among the farmer organisations taking part in the three-day demonstration. The angry farmers have stated that the three-day protest will end on Saturday. Their requests include a financial aid package for those in north India hit by floods, a statutory guarantee of the minimum support price (MSP) for all crops, and a farmer debt forgiveness programme.The Swaminathan Commission report’s proposals for MSP and a Rs 50,000 crore flood relief package for the states of northern India are what the farmers are asking for. Additionally, they are calling for the cancellation of all farmer and labourer debt, as well as the payment of Rs. 10 lakh and a government job to the relatives of each farmer killed during the protests against the three farm laws that have since been repealed.
