Farmers Movement Archive

'Rail roko agitation passed off without any untoward incident': Indian Railways

The four-hour-long 'rail roko' agitation by farmers against the Centre's three agriculture laws ended without any untoward incident, the Indian Railways has said."Rail roko agitation passed off without any untoward incident. There was negligible or minimal impact on running of the trains across the country," it said, adding that train movement in all zones was back to normal."Train movement in all zones is normal now. Few trains were stopped in some areas but now train operation is normal," the Indian Railways said.The Railways deployed 20 additional companies of RPSF troops across the country, with focus on Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, ahead of the protest which was organised to pressurise the government into repealing the laws.Director General of Railway Protection Force Arun Kumar on Wednesday said, "I appeal to everyone to maintain peace. We will be liaising with district administrations and will have a control room in place.""We will gather intelligence. States such as Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, and some other areas will be our focus. We have deployed 20 companies of the Railway Protection Special Force (RPSF) in these areas," he added.The protest was announced last week by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), the umbrella body of farmer unions spearheading the agitation.Earlier on Thursday, the leader of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), Rakesh Tikait, had assured the public that the agitation will be done in a peaceful manner."Rail roko protest will begin at 12 pm and go on till 3-4 pm. Trains are not plying anyway. It'll be done peacefully. We'll provide water, milk, lassi and fruits to people who are stranded. We will inform them about our issues," he had said."Today we have two rallies in Hisar and I am going there. I am going to a rally in Mumbai tomorrow. We will hold rallies all over the country. Farmers are suffering everywhere. The only way to get rid of the problems is to give legal backing to MSP," he added.(With agency inputs)

Hindustan Times

18-02-2021

India