Train Services on Several Routes Cancelled, Diverted Due to Farmers’ Protest in Punjab

Due to the farmers' "rail-roko" protest on Sunday, the Ferozepur railway division either cancelled or rescheduled the services of trains on 11 routes.

The Farmers under the banner of Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella group comprising at least 40 agricultural organisations, protested to primarily seek the implementation of a minimum support price (MSP) for crops.

An official spokesperson of the Ferozepur railway division said that 21 trains were either cancelled or short-terminated.

Two trains were stationed at the Abohar railway station, while eight trains were rescheduled.

The authorities were monitoring the situation in light of the request to block railway traffic for four hours from 11 am today. A timetable of several trains was prepared accordingly for Sunday. After a railway track safety investigation, services were resumed, according to a Railways official.

Commuters faced a tough time after train services were hit.

In Bathinda, Mansa, Fazilka, and other nearby areas in south Malwa, activists from several farmer unions gathered on the rail tracks.

Farmers blocked railway tracks in several locations and Raised slogans against the BJP-led central government for not fulfilling the long-pending demands of the agrarian community.

No suspicious incident was reported during the agitation, according to information obtained from several areas.

Hundreds of farmers stopped the Amritsar-Delhi railway section at the Valla railway crossing in Amritsar under the leadership of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC).

Hundreds of women wearing saffron scarves had also joined the stir.

Sarwan Singh Pandher, general secretary of the KMSC, described the protest as a tribute to Udham Singh. "The committee established by the central government on MSP is just an eyewash," he said.

Some corporate families are directing the government's actions. We will intensify our protest till the government does not announce MSP on various crops, we will escalate our protest. Farmers are being targeted by government policies, but we won't stand for it.