JAMMU: After protesting Punjab farmers ended their three-day strike on Saturday evening, train service was resumed at the Jammu Railway Station, a senior railway official reported. Hundreds of passengers, including Vaishno Devi pilgrims who were stuck at Jammu and Katra railway stations due to the farmers’ strike, were greatly relieved when rail operations resumed. “Five trains were cancelled earlier in the day, but service resumed after Punjabi farmers moved away from the tracks at 4 pm,” said senior railway official Prateek Shrivastav. In response to the farmers’ protest, he said that a total of 50 trains were cancelled and 85 others were diverted over the course of the last three days.We will resume regular business hours starting on Sunday. Additional trains would be made available if necessary to transport the stranded passengers, according to Shrivastav. On Thursday, members of different farmer organisations in Punjab started the “Rail Roko” agitation to make their demands known, including a cash package for losses brought on by recent floods, a legal guarantee to the minimum support price (MSP), and a debt forgiveness programme. Farmers camped out on train tracks in a number of locations, including Moga, Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur, Jalandhar, Tarn Taran, Sangrur, Patiala, Ferozepur, Bathinda, and Amritsar, as part of the protest. Shrivastav claimed that the Ambala and Ferozepur railway divisions have been directly impacted by the agitation.
