Farmers Movement Archive

Protests shift from rail tracks to platforms, open spaces nearby

Bathinda: Even as 30 farm organisations on Thursday vacated railway tracks in Punjab to allow the movement of goods trains, protests against the three newly enacted farm laws continued. Farm bodies set up stages either at railway platforms or at vacant places not far from railway tracks. The organisations stated they would ensure only goods trains were pressed into service and passenger trains did not operate. The movement of goods trains has been allowed till November 5 for bringing in coal for the smooth running of thermal power plants, bringing in fertilisers, including DAP, for wheat sowing, and transport of food grains to other states. The organisations will hold a review meeting on November 4 to decide on the next course of action. The protest was shifted from the tracks to railway platform in Barnala. In Mansa, it was being shifted behind the railway station. In Batinda, the agitation was also shifted from the railway tracks. “We are equally at ease on the platform, though it has comparatively less space. Here, older people, for whom going to tracks was bit tough, we will be more comfortable,” said farm activist Chamkaur Singh Punjab Kisan Union president Ruldu Singh Mansa said their protests would continue till the Union government did not withdraw the contentious farm laws or made them farmer friendly by ensuring minimum support price (MSP) for crops continued. BKU Ekta Dakonda general secretary Jagmohan Singh said apart from continuing with the protests against central farm laws, they were studying the bills passed by Punjab assembly. “Our relaxation on movement of goods trains should not be presumed as withdrawal of protests,” he said. 4-yr-old at stir too Barnala: Children holding flags of various farmer organisations have been a hallmark of farmer protests against the Union government’s agriculture laws. One such child, four-year-old Sahibjot Singh, was spotted at the Barnala railway station. He was accompanying father Gurpreet Singh (29) of Raisar village in Barnala district. Gurpreet is the district general secretary of Krantikari Kisan Union. Sahibjot was enrolled in LKG at a private school in Chananwal village in March before the schools were closed due to the Covid-19 lockdown. Now he is a regular at the protests with his father, Gurpreet, had done masters in public administration and Bachelor of Education (B Ed). Gurpreet, who owns six acres of land, had started agriculture in 2013 after the death of his father Baltej Singh

The Times of India

2020-10-23

Chandigarh