Farmers Movement Archive

Passengers bear the brunt at Ludhiana railway station

Ludhiana, February 18Hundreds of passengers, including children, women and elderly, remained stranded for over four hours at the city railway station due to the rail roko protest by farmers against the new farm laws.In view of the call given by various farmers' unions, the Railways authorities had decided to stop the trains at different railway stations so that the passengers did not face much inconvenience and could get basic tea and water facilities.The Paschim Express was held for nearly five hours at the Ludhiana railway station. Passengers were seen waiting for trains at platforms during the protest. An elderly woman said she had to visit her daughter's home at the earliest, but the train, which she had to catch, was running late due to the protest.Though it was an inconvenient situation as trains were running late due to the protest, a number of passengers also expressed sympathy and support for the farmers and demanded that the Central Government should meet their demands at the earliest.Lalit, who hails from Madhya Pradesh (MP) and is working in Ludhiana, said, “My foot has fractured due to which I am going back home in MP. I learned that the train is delayed due to the ongoing protest by the farmers. But it needs to be understood why they are protesting? The Centre should hear the voice of farmers and give them written guarantee of MSP-based procurement of crops.”Firdosh, who was travelling from Phagwara to Faridabad in Paschim Express and came out to hear the speech of farmers during the protest, said, “The train has stopped here due to the protest. But I support the farmers as I also do farming in Kashmir. The government should accept the demands of the farmers.”Another passenger of Paschim Express, Rajesh said, “I am travelling from Jalandhar to Mathura. The demands of the farmers should be fulfilled by the government so that people don’t face any inconvenience and everything becomes normal in the country.”Meanwhile, some farmers served tea as part of langar to the stranded passengers in Paschim Express at the railway station."We served langar and tea to the passengers in the trains and also at the railway station during the protest,” said Bharpur Singh of the BKU Ekta Ugrahan.Station superintendent at the railway station Ashok Singh Salaria said, “Paschim Express and two good trains were held at the Ludhiana railway station amid the protest. There were around 800-900 passengers in the train that had arrived in Ludhiana at 11.40 am. The train movement was resumed after 4.30 pm. Now, the situation is normal. No train was cancelled.”

The Tribune

2021-02-19